


Love Lost (And Found)

by Halzbarry



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha Oliver Queen, Alpha!Oliver, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mating, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Minor Angst, Minor Eddie Thawne/Iris West, Mpreg, Omega Barry Allen, Omega!Barry, Post Mpreg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 07:29:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5657794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halzbarry/pseuds/Halzbarry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Oliver met Barry Allen in a rundown college bar, he thought he'd found the man to call his omega and mate for life. But all that was taken away when Barry disappeared the next morning. What he didn't expect, was to find Barry in a coffee shop in Central City five years later, and with a son nonetheless. Oliver just wanted a chance to see if he and Barry could be something, but there was something about Barry's son that seemed so familiar, and it made him wonder what really happened five years ago that made Barry run off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Lost (And Found)

**Author's Note:**

> My first stab at an mpreg fic haha. There isn't any graphic birth descriptions so you don't need to worry about that! I'm a big fan of A/B/O fics though so I figured it was time to take it a step further. Hope you all enjoy it!

“So, you have a tour of the building at one this afternoon, and then a statement to the press at two-thirty, after which we will then promptly go to the hotel and pass out, hopefully after ordering a pizza or stopping by Big Belly Burger,” Felicity read as she examined the itinerary on her cell phone.  

“Remind me again why we decided to set up our new headquarters in Central City?” Oliver asked, sighing as he stared out the window of their chauffeured car.

“Do you want the long and complicated answer, or the short one?” Felicity countered, making Oliver roll his eyes.

“Short, please,” he sighed.

Felicity smiled. “The investors at Palmer Tech want to start expanding into growing markets, and so they want to see that we’ve chosen a central location to house the newly reformed subsidiary of Palmer Tech, aka Queen Consolidated. We picked Central City because it’s had substantial economic growth in the last three years, and has a surprisingly low crime rate, which makes it the perfect location to build in.”

“I thought I said short answer.”

Felicity shot him a deathly glare and he smiled and sat up in his seat, knowing full well not to piss her off, especially in the close confinement of the car.

“Take this seriously, Oliver. You’re going to be the head of this new division, and so all of this falls on you to make sure it goes well,” she warned.

“I’m aware of that, Felicity. I just don’t see why we needed to travel all the way over here just to look at a building that we’ve apparently already purchased without my approval.”

Felicity closed her eyes, most likely trying to temper herself before Oliver made her angry, and he couldn’t help but smile endearingly at the woman he’d come to call his best friend and owed so much too. In fact, if it weren’t for Felicity, he’d probably have been banned from even walking into Palmer Technologies after they bought out Queen Consolidated.

Felicity somehow kept him in line and had helped pull him out of the ridiculous playboy lifestyle he’d been living up until a couple of years ago. Because of that, when Ray had him made Vice President of Palmer Technologies, he made sure to promote her from an IT specialist to executive director, reporting only to him.

“It’s symbolic, Oliver. The opening of the new Queen Consolidated building is going to be all over the news, and it’s going to create over a hundred initial new jobs here in Central City. That means they need someone to be the face of it, and nothing screams the new face of Queen Consolidated then the newly appointed Vice President of Palmer Tech,” she explained clearly frustrated.

Oliver rolled his eyes just slightly, but it was enough that Felicity could still see it.

“It’s the final push people need to see you as something other than the playboy Alpha who goes around punching paparazzi and stealing taxis.”

“Okay. Point made,” he interrupted. He hated hearing about his past, but she was right. He had a reputation of being America’s most unruly and eligible Alpha that started when he turned twenty-one. He slept around like crazy, with anyone and everyone, got into fights, got drunk, and even got arrested, of course the charges never stuck since he was the son of one of one of the most wealthy and prestigious families.

But after losing so many people in his life, both his father and his best friend Tommy, he wanted to change and be the man his father and Tommy both believed he could be. He needed to change. And if he was going to be anything like the good businessman his father was, he needed to act that part. That unfortunately included mundane press events.

The car’s sudden stop jolted him from his thoughts and he looked out the window to see that they were stopped outside a coffee shop, and Felicity was grabbing her purse.

“This can’t be the building,” he muttered in disbelief.

“It’s a coffee shop. Apparently one of the best in the city, and we haven’t eaten since three A.M. So we are stopping here for some food and coffee,” she explained.

“You could at least consult me on these things before you make a decision. And besides, I’m not even hungry.”

“If I did consult you on these things, you would start pitching a fit like you are now. So as a result, I don’t tell you these things. Now unless you want to do a press conference and be swarmed with paparazzi on an empty stomach, I suggest you get out of the car.”

Oliver grumbled, but obliged her and got out of the car with Felicity right behind him.

“What kind of name is Jitters?” he scoffed.

“A good one. And one that is going to be feeding us, so right now it sounds heavenly,” Felicity countered.  

It was pretty obvious that he and Central City were not going to get along very well, and every moment he was still in the city was one more moment he wished he could disappear.

 

**~OoO~**

 

The place was quiet which Oliver appreciated since he already didn’t want to be in the city, much less in a crowded place. He and Felicity found a seat in the corner of the place, sipping on their coffee and waiting for their sandwiches to come out.

“See. I told you this place wasn’t bad,” Felicity teased.

“It’s alright. Nothing to brag home about.”

“You’re determined to find everything wrong about this aren’t you?” she accused.

“I’m not trying to find something wrong. This entire thing is wrong in the first place. I don’t see a need to come to Central City, nor do I feel like staying here to work,” he grumbled.

Felicity took a sip of her coffee before shooting him an unimpressed look. “At least put on a happy face, Oliver. Ray went through a lot to get you the promotion, and if you mess this up it’s going to make you both look terrible.”

“I’m not doing this because of some obligation to Ray. I didn’t ask him for the promotion.”

“I’m not saying you’re obligated to do what Ray says. I’m just saying—” Oliver couldn’t hear the rest of what she was saying because all of his senses seemed to stop for a moment when a familiar scent hit him.

When he looked up and over towards the door of the coffee shop, memories of that one night five years ago came flocking to him so rapidly that he felt his head start to spin. He wasn’t sure how his body could still have the same visceral reaction to the sight of the man he’d slept with so many years ago, but here he was.

Walking into the coffee shop was the one man he’d let get away all that time ago. The man whose name, scent, touch, he hadn’t managed to forget all this time.

_Barry Allen._

He could the feel the alpha pull inside him, demanding and roaring for him to approach him, but he took a few deep breaths to quell it. He tried to hide his gaze behind his coffee mug, watching as Barry, walked into the shop, his omega scent so strong, at least to him.

“Oliver,” Felicity snapped, breaking him from his trance.

“Hmm. What?” he asked, acting as though nothing had happened.

“You were staring at some guy walking in, and I’ve been trying to get your attention for the last two minutes.”

“Sorry. I—just zoned out is all,” he apologized.

Before he even realized it, his eyes were following Barry again, watching him go to the counter and order something, smiling at the woman at the counter. He could feel the possessive growl rumbling in his stomach.

“I know that look. That’s your super, macho alpha look,” Felicity pointed out. “What has you acting so strange?”

He couldn’t fight the urge any longer, and he knew he had to at least say something to Barry. At least see if Barry still remembered him the way he had never forgotten Barry.

“I’ll be right back,” he muttered, getting up from his seat and slowly approaching the man who was now seated at a table further away.

Barry didn’t see him coming, instead burying his attention in his phone. His mind was racing a mile a minute with thoughts, questions, everything. _Could Barry smell him too? Did Barry still remember that one night five years ago? Did Barry ever think of him sometimes?_

He hated the possessiveness that came with being an alpha. Thankfully, he rarely ever experienced any alpha aggression or urges. Most importantly he’d missed the urge to mate and settle down, instead finding it easy to float from person to person without feeling any sort of attachment to them the way most alphas should. That was at least until he’d met Barry.

He was twenty-four and in his prime playboy phase when he met Barry at some college bar in Starling City. It was supposed to be a quick one and done. He remembered betting Tommy he could score three people before the night was over. He had even planned to see if he could get away with fucking someone in the bathroom at the bar.

But Barry’s omega scent had completely overwhelmed him, and before he knew it, he was back in his apartment, both of them tangled in the sheets, and his knot completely buried inside the younger man. The last thing he remembered was not wanting to get up and removing himself from Barry’s side, believing he’d found his mate.

He was now just a few steps behind Barry, and he figured he had one last chance to turn back and run. But he knew he’d be miserable if he didn’t at least say something to him, so with one final breath he pressed forward and placed a hand on Barry’s shoulder.

Barry jumped, and Oliver could feel him shudder at the touch, and when Barry turned around and saw him, there was confusion, shock, and complete surprise written all across his face.

“Barry, it’s been a long time,” Oliver said, hoping his face didn’t give away how desperate he was for Barry to have some recollection of him. Do you remember me?”

“O—Oliver. Wh—what are you doing here?” Barry stammered.

“I’m here on a business trip, and Felicity and I stopped in for coffee. I didn’t expect to see you here… much less ever again.” Barry’s face fell, and Oliver wondered if he’d said something wrong already. “Do you live around here?” he asked, quickly hoping to avoid Barry leaving him.

“Umm, yeah I do. I was actually born in Central City. I—uh—just left when I went to college, and then came back after I graduated,” Barry explained.

Oliver nodded, his lips pulled taut into a forced smile. Barry’s scent was still as intoxicating as it was five years ago, but he could smell apprehension on Barry and the acridity made him feel sick.

Barry, himself, forced a smile on his face, but Oliver could see through it just as much as he was sure Barry could probably see through his façade as well.

“How are you, Barry?” he finally forced himself to ask, not wanting to know if Barry had moved on, or worse, if Barry had found someone else.

“I’m doing well, Oliver. I graduated and I have a job now. It’s not glamorous or anything, but it’s good and I like it.” Barry took a pause, looking away towards the door before turning back to him. “How are you?”

Oliver chuckled, and tried not to show his bitterness. “Well, I’m not getting arrested anymore and the last few times I’ve been in the press it’s been good, so I’m doing better.”

Barry actually laughed at that, and Oliver saw the beginnings of that same bright smile he could so vividly remember all those years ago in that bar.  

But almost immediately Barry’s attention was drawn away to the door, and Oliver couldn’t help but look too. A woman with dark hair and a bright smile walked in, but the most striking thing was the little boy with her. He couldn’t have been any older than four or five, and even from a short glance he could see a resemblance to Barry. He had messy brown hair colored almost identically like Barry’s and he could even see some of Barry’s jawline in the boy. His eyes, though, were strikingly blue almost like his own. But what was odd was that the boy’s scent was overwhelmingly inviting to him when the average person’s scent was hardly noticeable or slightly off putting.

But this little kid was different. He didn’t know anything about him, but in some strange way, he already seemed familiar to him.

“Daddy!” the little boy yelled, leaving the woman he’d come in with and running to Barry, who smiled brightly and picked him up.

“Hey, buddy. How was work with Aunt Iris?” he asked the little boy.

“Fun!” the little boy cheered.

Oliver couldn’t help but smile at the kid, and it only grew wider when the boy turned up to him, and all of a sudden the little boy’s face went blank as he stared at him.

He felt almost that same pang of possession that he’d felt for Barry spark inside him again the longer he stared down at the boy, and Barry was now out of his seat with his gaze set on Oliver. It was the woman beside Barry that finally spoke and broke up whatever this weird silence was.

Though she initially seemed reluctant to say anything she held her hand out for Oliver to shake. “Iris West. It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Queen. And congratulations on the opening of the new Queen Consolidated building here in Central City.”

Oliver shook her hand and smiled brightly back, but his focus was still on Barry and the boy he was holding.

“Thank you, and it’s nice to meet you too, Iris. And—” he stopped and looked over towards the little boy whose gaze was still locked on him.

“Oh—umm, this is Henry. He’s—uhh—he’s my son,” Barry introduced.

Even though he could already guess that based on how the boy reacted when he saw Barry, hearing it officially from Barry’s mouth felt so much worse.

Barry had a son. And it wasn’t with him.

But despite the fact that he’d just found out Barry had a son, the alpha side of him was eerily calm and quiet. For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to be angry because something about the kid, _Henry_ , seemed to calm him, make him feel relaxed and— _happy._

“That’s a nice name. It’s good to meet you, Henry,” Oliver said, smiling down at the little boy. When he got close enough the boy reached out for him, grabbing onto the jacket Oliver had one and gripping it tightly.

“Henry, you need to let go of Mr. Oliver’s jacket,” Barry chastised, but his words fell on deaf ears. Henry refused to let go, and Oliver wasn’t sure he wanted the little boy to. Barry intervened and pulled his son’s hand free, and almost immediately Henry started to whine and struggle to reach for Oliver again. Barry gently tried to shush him, but to no avail as Henry whined and continued to try and reach for Oliver. Barry turned up to Oliver looking exasperated and nervous. “I’m sorry, Oliver. I probably need to take him home. He’s had a long day.”

Oliver nodded understandingly and offered him a warm smile. “It’s fine. It was good seeing you, Barry.”

Barry smiled too, warmer this time. “Yeah… you too, Oliver.”

Iris smiled and said goodbye, and both she and Barry left with coffee shop, and Oliver remained still, his eyes not leaving them until they were both out of sight. At some point, Felicity had stood up and joined him.

“What was that?” she asked curiously.

“Hmm. What was what?” he countered.

“That whole conversation with that guy. You two didn’t exactly look excited to see one another at first, but then it good all weird and happy. And then the kid wouldn’t let go of you. There was a lot going on, Oliver.”

“It was nothing, Felicity. He was just an old friend. That’s all,” Oliver assured, but it didn’t seem to satisfy her curiosity. Even if she didn’t believe him, she didn’t press the situation any further.

“Well I got your sandwich all wrapped up to go. So we can leave if you’re ready?” she offered.

Oliver nodded and he and Felicity gathered their things before returning to the car that was waiting for them at the curb of the shop. When they crawled inside and were on the road, Oliver looked out the window, mind lost in thought about Barry.

 _Was Barry happy with someone else?_ He didn’t see a wedding ring on his finger and he couldn’t smell another alpha on him, so he at least figured Barry wasn’t married or mated to anyone yet. But then that begged the question of who was Henry’s other parent, and why didn’t Henry smell like Barry and someone else? In fact, the alpha of him hadn’t been disgusted by Henry’s scent at all.  

There were so many questions swirling through his mind that if he didn’t at least get a few answers to them he’d probably go insane.

“How long is it going to take until the building is ready?” he asked Felicity.

“Five months is what I last heard. There’s a smaller office being set up temporarily for all Queen Consolidated employees until it’s finished,” Felicity answered. She gave him a curious glance, but he just kept his blank gaze. “Why the sudden interest?”

“No reason. But I have a new job for you?”

“Really and what’s that?”

“I need you to start looking into places to rent for the next few months. It looks like I’m gonna be in Central City for a while.”

And it was true. He’d be here as long as it took to at least get some answers. And maybe just maybe, he could find a way to not let Barry slip away from him again.

 

**~OoO~**

 

_The music was loud and the air was thick with the sweat and musk as he walked into the infamous and popular college bar that he and Tommy occasionally frequented. College students had lined the place, which was no surprise given that drinks were apparently half price tonight and bouncers were piss poor at carding people._

_It was Tommy’s idea. He and Oliver needed to let loose after Oliver’s last run in with the police which, as usual, didn’t lead to any charges or negative consequences other than a few annoying articles about him and paparazzi. So what better way to relax than to get wasted in a bar full of college students and go crazy._

_“I bet you $500 you can’t get three people to sleep with you tonight,” Tommy bet him as they stood at the bar, sipping on the necks of their beers._

_“I think you forgot who I am. I had three people at one time just two weeks ago. Three people in one night won’t be hard,” Oliver cockily answered back._

_Tommy laughed and patted him on back. He didn’t want to tell him the truth though. The truth that somewhere in this bar was a scent so intoxicating, that he practically had to force his mouth closed to not drool. It smelled sweet like cinnamon and apples, a truly rich omega scent that he hadn’t smelled in long time. After all it was hard to find alphas and omegas these days. He couldn’t pin down where it was coming from since there were too many people in there, but he was determined to find it._

_“Alright then, Ollie. Bets on.”_

_Oliver downed the last of his beer before slamming the bottle back down on the table. “For your sake, you better hope I don’t walk out of the bar without sleeping with three people.”_

_It was a real threat. He’d become a real connoisseur of getting away with sex in public, his record being able to have sex in the back of a taxi without the taxi driver even knowing._

_Tommy smirked and Oliver moved to find his first person, which didn’t take long as he noticed a blonde haired woman looking right at him. Her green eyes clearly displaying how attracted she was to him. He smiled and made his way over to her, and he was only a few steps away when that scent hit him again. This time it was so strong and potent that his vision nearly blurred._

_The alpha inside of him was practically screaming for that scent and to find where it was coming from, and he couldn’t deny that part of him._

_He didn’t have to look far when he saw a man sitting at one of the small tables by himself, a black jacket pulled over and his brown hair slightly disheveled from what looked like him running his fingers through it._

_The scent was so strong, and it all seemed to be radiating from him, and he had to get close to him._

_Oliver could see the man was making a concerted effort to look away from him, but failing as Oliver could see his eyes slowly make their way back to him. He took that as a cue to make his move._

_He slid up to the table and took a seat across from the man who smiled bashfully when Oliver looked at him._

_“I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you this, but you smell absolutely amazing,” he started off. The man laughed and Oliver grinned at the man. “Oliver Queen.”_

_“I don’t think there’s anyone in here that doesn’t know who you are,” the guy remarked._

_Oliver quirked an eyebrow up at that, intrigued now slightly by the man. “So why do you look so shocked and surprised to see me?”_

_“Because I can’t believe you’re sitting at a table talking to me right now,” the man countered._

_Oliver could feel his grin widening now. The man was charming, he’d give him that, and his alpha seemed more than content with him. In fact, the alpha part of him seemed a little too content, like it was signaling that it was more than happy with the man right now. He ignored that part of his senses as he did everything else when it came to his biology as an alpha. He just wanted to take the man home and wrap himself up in that intoxicating scent._

_“Can I at least get your name?” Oliver asked._

_The man smiled and looked down at the table shyly before turning back up to him. “It’s Barry. Barry Allen.”_

_It was a nice name. One that he almost felt he could get used to for a while._

 

**~OoO~**

 

“I wanna go back. Daddy can we go back!” Henry yelled as he squirmed in Barry’s arms.

“Henry, I said no,” Barry sighed, thankful that they were finally inside the house and not in the car.

Barry already felt like his world had turned upside down after seeing Oliver again after all these years. Henry’s restlessness after seeing the alpha was only making it worse. Joe greeted them at the door, and Barry was glad his foster father had decided to take a few days off from work because right now he needed some reassurance from his family.

“What in the world is going on with Henry?” Joe asked. He reached out and took Henry from Barry, who felt a little bad on the inside at how relieved he was to have his son taken out of his hands for a bit. Henry seemed to calm down a little in Joe’s arms, but he still looked irritable and fidgeted like he wanted to break free.

“I hate to say it, Bar, but I think he got a little too attached to Oliver,” Iris said.

Joe’s face froze when Iris said Oliver’s name, and Barry knew it would.

“You saw Oliver Queen? Henry saw Oliver?” Joe asked, completely shocked and damn-near horrified.

Barry nodded and collapsed onto the couch. His whole body felt weak and his mind was buzzing and had been since he’d left the coffee shop. It had felt like he had gone into heat again. Except he knew it wasn’t his heat coming at all. No, this time it was Oliver.

Just being around the man for the few minutes they were had stirred that omega need inside of him, and the vivid memories of the night they spent together came flooding back to him. But with that came the painful memories too.

“Barry, I think we need to talk,” Joe advised.

Barry sighed and nodded, and Iris, taking the cue, walked over to Henry who seemed to lighten up a bit when she got nearby.

“Hey, Henry. How about we go play with your toys upstairs?” she offered.

Henry nodded and took Iris’ hand and the two of them walked upstairs together, giving Joe and Barry time to talk without Henry hearing. When Barry could hear the door close to Henry’s room upstairs, he turned to Joe who had given him a stern glance.

“Did Oliver find anything out about Henry?” Joe immediately asked.

Barry shook his head. “I don’t think so, but—” Barry stopped and let out a long sigh, and put his face in his hands for a moment. He hated every moment of this vulnerability. “I don’t know, Joe. When Henry saw Oliver they couldn’t take their eyes off each other. I think… Henry and Oliver recognized each other’s scent.”

“That’s not that surprising, Bar. Henry gets half of what he has from Oliver including being an alpha. And I’m not an expert, but I think that means they have a strong connection to each other.”

Henry was born an alpha and with that came the ability to scent other alphas and omegas well beyond what another beta and even an omega could, a trait he had inherited from his father. Most people were born beta, or essentially regular humans with no special quirks or inherent biological differences. On the other hand, a smaller portion of the population was born as either alphas or omegas, humans with innate biological differences that made them unique and different. Barry had fallen into that rare category and born an omega.

For the most part he was the same as any other person. While the differences between a regular beta and a human omega or alpha were complex, he liked to simplify it in his head. Unlike betas, he, as an omega, just gets horny for a couple of days a month unless he takes a suppressant and if he doesn’t he goes into heat. Also he had the capability to give birth as an omega male, but that could only be achieved through sex with an alpha and while he was in heat.

That’s where Oliver Queen had come into play.

“What am I going to do Joe? I’ve kept this secret from Oliver for so long. And what am I supposed to tell Henry when he asks about Oliver?”

Joe sighed. It had been hard for him to adjust to Barry being an omega since he and Iris were both just betas and never had to deal with what he was going through, but he had been there for Barry every step of the way since his father had gone to prison and his mother killed.

“I can’t tell you what to do, Barry. That decision falls squarely on your shoulders. The only advice I can give you is to do what’s best for you and Henry. If that means keeping Oliver in the dark about being Henry’s father, then that’s what it has to be,” Joe said.

Barry looked down and took a deep breath.

The truth he worked so hard to keep, was that he’d been knocked up by Oliver Queen five years ago because of a one night stand his senior year of college. And when he found out a few days later, he panicked and fled back home to Central City because he was too scared to deal with it alone. And rather than tell Oliver the truth, he did everything within his power to keep that secret from Oliver, which wasn’t hard to do since he was six hundred miles away from Starling City.

Only a handful of people knew the truth about him and Henry and that included Joe, Iris, and his father when he visited him in Iron Heights, and Joe’s detective partner and Iris’ boyfriend Eddie, who surprised all of them by helping take care of Henry whenever he could.

And now the wall he’d built up to protect that secret was cracking and all because of one unexpected encounter with Oliver when he least expected it.

“For now, don’t dwell on it too much. The more upset you are about it, the more Henry will pick up on that and think something’s wrong,” Joe reminded him.

Barry forced a tiny smile on his face and nodded. “You’re right. I just need to relax. Oliver said he was only here for business, so I doubt I’ll ever see him again.” But he figured that maybe the scary part about all of this was that realizing that he would never see Oliver again actually frightened him. It had taken him almost three years to almost forget that musky, hypnotizing alpha scent that was Oliver’s. It was made worse by the fact that he had been pregnant with Oliver’s child who smelled like a combination of him and Oliver for so long.

And even now Henry had faint traces of that familiar Oliver Queen smell, and it drove him crazy. It had prevented him from moving on with someone else, not that he had many people knocking down his door to date him. Turns out having a kid really did put a damper on a person’s dating life. Oliver being back was just going to make things worse.

Iris came back downstairs, and she smiled at the both of them before sitting down on the couch next to Barry.

“Poor Henry. He fell asleep on the floor before he could even finish building the tower. I just put a blanket over him because I didn’t have the heart to move him,” Iris explained, a fond smile tugging at her lips.

Barry wanted to hug her. With Henry asleep he’d hopefully calm down and he wouldn’t have to talk anymore about Oliver to him any time soon. In fact, he hoped Henry would just forget about him.

But for now, he was just thankful for both Iris and Joe, not just as his family, but as his best and closest friends. If it weren’t for them, he wasn’t sure he or Henry would be where they are today.

“Thanks, Iris,” he said, leaning his head on her shoulder playfully.

“Anything for you, Barry. And of course for my honorary nephew. I had to get a picture of him sleeping too. He was just too cute.”

Barry laughed and looked around at his family, and realized that he was lucky. As long as he had his family and his friends, and Henry, his son and the love of his life, he’d find a way to be alright.

 

**~OoO~**

**_“_ ** _So, Barry, what are you doing for the rest of the night?” Oliver asked, grinning cockily at the younger man._

_The scent had completely overwhelmed his senses, and he had completely forgotten about his and Tommy’s bet. All he could think about was getting Barry in his bed and keeping him there._

_“Umm, nothing really. I’m just celebrating the end of finals. I guess after this I’ll probably just go home and sleep or something,” Barry answered, still smiling shyly._

_Oliver laughed, mostly because it was fun and endearing to see the man so bashful around him. Most of the people he wanted to sleep with were much more eager and willing, some even pushy and forceful. The omegas he had slept with were usually the worst._

_But Barry was different. Want and lust lingered in his scent, but he looked like he was working to keep it under control and not act on it. And it only made Oliver want him more._

_“How about you do all of that, just back at my place for the night,” Oliver offered._

_Barry seemed totally surprised by Oliver’s words, his mouth falling open in surprise and his hazel eyes going wide._

_“I—I don’t think I can, Oliver. I don’t think you want to deal with me,” Barry said, his surprised face falling away and leaving a confused and even hurt face. Oliver wanted to wipe it away and bring back his beautiful smile._

_“Barry, I came to you for a reason. You’re scent and your smile, it’s driving me crazy, and I know you feel the same because it’s lingering in your scent,” Oliver assured._

_Barry let out a long sigh and his eyes become glossy, and Oliver could feel his body warming up which meant he was releasing a strong surge of alpha pheromones that Barry was sensing. If he didn’t hurry up and leave, every omega in the bar would most likely be clamoring to get near him, and chances are he’d get extremely irritable, not because they were getting close to him, but because they were getting close too close to Barry._

_“O—Oliver,” Barry sighed, and he could smell a strong surge of Barry’s omega hormones leaking from his body, and his hunger and need for Barry had reached its maximum._

_“Barry, please say yes that you’ll come back with me. And not because we’re scenting each other, but because you want to,” Oliver pleaded. He had very little experience with the primal alpha need in him, normally having excellent control over that part of himself. But Barry brought that side out of him like no one had before._

_Barry was breathing heavily now, and he swallowed before nodding meekly. “Yeah. Let’s go back to your place. Please, Oliver.”_

_The words were an instant trigger, and Oliver was out of his chair and grabbing Barry’s arm, pushing both of them past anyone who dared get in front of him. People’s curious and suspicious eyes were no doubt on them, but he didn’t care._

_He cared even less when he and Barry were out of the bar, and Barry had pressed him against the wall of the building and kissed him._

_It was a rough, wet kiss, filled with the promise of so much more to come. And his scent had become so irresistible that everything around him seemed to fade away simply to let him focus solely on Barry’s omega scent. Something even sweeter had mixed with it now, and Oliver was positive Barry was slick with want now. All he had to do was manage to get the both of them back to his apartment and he could truly let loose and get a taste of Barry Allen._

**~OoO~**

 

It had been three weeks since Oliver had been in Central City, and it had proven to be more trying than he initially thought.

The temporary office that had been set up for him and the others to work in was a lot smaller than he had hoped with barely enough space for both him and Felicity to work in it. Though they still had the biggest office in the place, it paled in comparison to what he had become accustomed to back in Starling.

And to top it off, he hadn’t made much progress in the way of finding Barry, and piecing together what had happened that he still felt so connected to him, and found a weird connection with his son.

More than anything, he couldn’t shake Henry from his mind. The little boy had seemed captivated by him, and Oliver couldn’t deny he’d felt the same. The little boy smelled so familiar, and Oliver felt the stir to protect the little boy deep in the pit of his stomach. He just needed to know why.

Felicity had left for a few days, returning to Starling to handle some business before coming back for a bit longer, this time with John Diggle who Oliver’s best friend and bodyguard, who insisted he didn’t trust Oliver to be alone for that long.

But for right now, it was just him and in the penthouse apartment Felicity had found for rent for the next few months, which was how he found himself at the grocery store, shopping for things to cook and eat for the next few days.

For the most part he had been wandering around the store, just grabbing anything that looked appetizing or worth cooking later on.

Something though in the store smelled delicious and sweet and he was hoping, as he walked up and down every aisle, that he’d eventually locate where that smell was coming from.

He was so lost in whatever the smell was lingering in the air, that he had quit paying attention to where he was going, which is how he ended up missing the little boy that had run right in front of his cart.

“Hey, you’re Mr. Oliver!”

Oliver brought the cart to a swift halt when he saw Henry standing in front of his cart. He froze for a moment as that same feeling from weeks ago when he first laid eyes on the boy returned in full.

“Henry, what are you doing by yourself? Where’s your dad?” Oliver immediately asked, going to the child and crouching down to get on his level.

“Daddy is over there!” Henry said, pointing to the left, though it was obvious he had probably snuck away from Barry.

“Well how about we go find your daddy,” Oliver offered, giving the child a warm smile.

The little boy smiled and nodded, and he could see so much of Barry in him, but there was still something else oddly familiar about the boy. Mostly it was the subtle features in Henry that almost reminded him of himself when he was a kid.

Oliver moved to take the boy’s hand, but Henry made reaching motions that Oliver recognized as him wanting to be picked up. Barry most likely spoiled the kid, but who could blame him. Henry was an adorable kid, and he didn’t want to disappoint him.

Oliver sighed, and moved his cart to the side before picking Henry up and cradling the kid in his arms. Something about it, having Henry in his arms, it felt right. It felt like Henry was supposed to be here with him, and the smell of boy mixing with his was soothing, like family.

“You smell good, Mr. Oliver,” the little boy complimented as he buried his face in Oliver’s neck. He was starting to wonder if Henry was scenting him. “Daddy said you smelled good too.”  

He froze when the realization hit him that Henry was indeed scenting him. Why would a kid who couldn’t be older than four or five want to scent him? Last he checked, alpha kids were pretty adverse to the scent of strangers until they were about ten. But most of all, why did Barry tell his son that he had smelled good?

He sighed and let Henry do as he pleased before making his way down the aisle and looking around for Barry. He figured he could maybe lock onto his scent even if it wasn’t nearly as strong now as it was three weeks ago.

As he went up and down a few aisles he couldn’t see heads or tails of Barry, and he wondered if Barry had even noticed that Henry was missing. There were moments when he wished he’d gotten Barry’s number all those years ago, so he could at least consider calling him now.

“There’s daddy!” Henry exclaimed, motioning over to Barry who was talking to someone at the front, visibly panicked and distraught. Oliver could now smell him, thought it was faint, and his scent was filled with nothing but fear and distress. It made him feel sick and angry, like he needed to comfort him until he was calm again.

“C’mon, let’s go see your daddy,” Oliver said, and Henry nodded.

Oliver walked over to Barry, and almost immediately Barry turned to him and relief flooded him as he ran to them.

“Henry! Oh my God, where have you been?” he exclaimed, and Oliver quickly handed Barry’s son to him, not wanting to stand between the two of them.

“I found Mr. Oliver. He picked me up so we could come find you,” Henry answered, clearly oblivious to his father’s worry.

Barry smiled, and the tears that clearly had been forming in his eyes seemed to get choked back. “Never do that again, Henry. Do you understand?”

Henry seemed perplexed at his father’s stern warning, and Oliver felt out of place watching such a tender moment between the two of them. He smiled and tried to think of something to say to Barry, but the words wouldn’t come to him.

Barry seemed to take the initiative, turning a warm smile towards Oliver. “Oliver, I can’t thank you enough for finding him. I was about to lose it. I owe you so much.”

Oliver smiled and nodded. “It was nothing, Barry. It looks like Henry smelled me and came right over. He’s been sniffing my neck since I picked him up.”

Barry’s expression seemed to fall a little after that, and Oliver wondered if it was something that he’d said that changed his mood so suddenly.

“Yeah—he’s been talking a lot about how good you smelled since he met you at the coffee shop. I guess when he smelled you here he just took off,” Barry surmised.

“I guess Henry is an alpha or an omega then?” Oliver asked.

Barry nodded slightly. “He’s an alpha. I figured you probably knew that by the way he was scent-marking you earlier.”

Oliver laughed a little at that. He knew the kid was smelling him, but knowing now that he was an alpha, it made more sense that he was scent-marking him instead.

“Actually, I just figured he was curious about the cologne I was wearing,” Oliver remarked jokingly.

Despite his, according to Felicity, bad sense of humor, Barry seemed amused by it and laughed a little.

“I never took you for a jokester,” Barry remarked.

“Well there’s a lot we didn’t get to know about each other.” Instant regret swelled inside of him, and he wanted to punch himself in face, hard. The feeling grew worse when he saw Barry’s expression drop again, this time a hint of resentment and exhaustion in his eyes.

“Oliver… we—I—”

“I’m sorry, Barry. I shouldn’t have said that,” Oliver interrupted. Though he apologized, he knew deep down he truly meant what he said. After that night they spent together, Oliver had wanted nothing more than to learn everything he could about Barry. After all, he was pretty sure they had mated with each other, and mates were supposed to know everything about each other. But that opportunity had vanished with Barry all those years ago.

Henry seemed restless again as he looked back and forth between the both of them, and suddenly he was reaching out for Oliver again, and Barry sighed.

“Henry, it’s not polite to do that,” Barry chastised.

“I want Oliver to hold me, daddy,” Henry whined. 

Barry closed his eyes and Oliver could sense exhaustion lingering in his entire being. He only wished he could help take some of it away.

Oliver smiled at Henry, completely enamored by the look of fascination that lingered in Henry’s blue eyes.

“Maybe you should take Henry home, Barry. You look tired,” he suggested.

“Yeah. You’re right. Henry disappearing really threw me off. I just need some time to sit down and relax.”

Oliver nodded, but he had a golden opportunity and he had to take it. “Barry, I’ll be in town actually for a few months, and I was hoping maybe we could catch up and get dinner one day next week when you’re free.”

Barry swallowed, and his scent that Oliver loved so much started to fill the air. Maybe this wasn’t a lost cause after all.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Oliver. I don’t really think you and I would have time for each other. I mean, I’ve got Henry, and you’re the VP of a Fortune 500 company.”

His scent betrayed his words, and Oliver could smell that faint omega desire in him, reminiscent of the first time they had met. Barry wanted it too, but something made him believe he couldn’t have it.

“Just one date. If it’s—if I’m not what you want. Then I’ll leave you alone. I just want the chance to see where we could’ve gone,” Oliver pleaded.

Barry looked down at Henry and Oliver could see something in him changed when he saw the way Henry was smiling at him. Barry sighed and turned his hazel eyes back up to Oliver.

“Alright. One date. I’m free on Wednesday,” Barry said.

Oliver wasn’t sure he’d felt this happy in a while, but Barry agreeing to one date had sent his emotions into overload, but he hid his elation behind a coy smile.

“That’s great, Barry. How does dinner at seven sound? There’s a new Greek restaurant that opened up and Felicity tells me it’s good.”

“That sounds good. I can meet you there.”

“No, I’ll come pick you up. It’s the least I can do,” Oliver offered.

Barry sighed, but he seemed to relent as he reached into his jacket pocket with his free hand and handed Oliver his phone. “Okay. Put your number in my phone and I’ll text you my address.”

Oliver did as Barry said and put his number in his phone number before handing it back to him.

“I’ll text you later tonight. I promise.”

Oliver nodded and smiled. “I’ll look forward to it, Barry.”

Barry turned to Henry and smiled. “Tell Mr. Oliver goodbye and thank you for bringing you back,” Barry said to his son.

Henry smiled gleefully and waved at Oliver before trying to reach out for him again. “Thank you, Mr. Oliver for—for bringing me back and making my daddy happy again.”

Barry shook his head with a tired smile on his face, and Oliver couldn’t help but smile at the little boy, and he took the little boy’s hand and shook it.

“You’re welcome, Henry. I’m glad I could make your daddy happy.”

Oliver could see Barry starting to turn red, and Oliver took a little amusement seeing him so flustered.

“I guess that’s my cue to leave,” Barry said bashfully. He put Henry down in the cart and adjusted him so he was comfortable. “I’ll see you Wednesday, Oliver.”

He waved bye to Oliver, and Oliver nodded back trying his best to hide the large smile that threated to take over face. But he couldn’t hide how happy he was. He had another chance with Barry. With the man he almost could’ve called his omega, his lover.

 

**~OoO~**

_Oliver lost track of time as he and Barry sat in the back of his chauffeured car, and it was a struggle not to rip his and Barry’s clothes off right there in the back seat. But he showed some restraint much like Barry was, and kept himself in check._

_He managed to type out a text to Henry saying that he’d gone home, but that was all he could do before Barry took his hand and gripped it tightly, a sign he was impatient and needed an alpha touch to calm his no doubt raging libido._

_At Oliver’s insistence his driver sped up, and he was thankful the man wasn’t an alpha because he figured any alpha nearby would be able to smell Barry and he’d end up trying to fight them to protect what he felt was his._

_Thankfully his driver had gotten them back to Oliver’s loft in record time, and if he didn’t think it would’ve undignified Barry, he would scooped the omega up into his arms and carried him upstairs. Instead he settled for grabbing Barry’s hand, and together ran upstairs into the building._

_When they finally got into his apartment Oliver barely able to close the door before Barry immediately pulled him into another desperate kiss, his tongue frantically tasting his mouth. Oliver was too intoxicated by Barry’s scent to move, and he simply stood there and let Barry do as he pleased, more than content that Barry was taking control._

_People who weren’t alphas or omegas always had the wrong perception that during sex, alphas were the ones who were aggressive and rough. In reality, it was usually the exact opposite. Alphas were aggressive in protecting their omegas, but when it came to sex, alphas were the more passive ones, mostly letting the omega take what they needed and just enjoying the ride._

_Barry fit that perfectly, his lips now buried into the crook of his neck where his scent gland was, kissing and sucking at the skin while Oliver hands struggled to undo and remove as much clothing from himself and Barry as he could._

_He succeeded in getting both their jackets off, but he had to break them apart before he could pull himself and Barry out of their shirts._

_“I need you now, Oliver,” Barry breathed, his lips ghosting against Oliver’s._

_“Fuck… I need you too, Barry,” Oliver growled, pressing their lips together and startling a gasp from Barry. He returned the kiss eagerly and Oliver felt Barry’s cold hands roaming his back like he was memorizing it, and the touch awakened a further urge inside of him._

_Since they were in the privacy of his loft he had no qualms in picking Barry up, letting the omega continue to kiss him while he moved them down the hall and into the bedroom._

_When they were in the bedroom he gently lowered Barry onto the bed, crawling on top of him, Barry breathing heavily and Oliver taking in the sight of the man shirtless and turning red with want. The smell of omega slick was heavy from Barry now, so overpowering that Oliver felt like he could taste the sweetness of it. It was heaven._

_“C’mon, Oliver. I need you to fuck me. Need you in me now. Please,” Barry begged._

_Oliver growled before lowering himself and kissing Barry hard, and readying himself to fuck the beautiful omega beneath him, the only question left lingering in Oliver’s mind whether or not he would knot the man and truly claim what was his._

**~OoO~**

 

“Do you think I’m okay to wear my work clothes?” Barry asked as Iris sat on his bed, texting away on her phone. He’d worn a pretty nice sweater today, and he hadn’t spilled any chemicals or his lunch on himself like he was prone to doing in the lab, so he hoped it looked good enough for his date with Oliver.

“You look fine, Barry. You need to relax. It’s just a simple dinner date with Oliver,” Iris advised.

“Are you sure you don’t mind babysitting, Iris? I feel like I ruined your plans with Eddie,” he asked.

“Barry, it’s fine. Eddie and I were just going to go out to dinner, and honestly a quiet night in with pizza sounds even better to me. Besides, you know Eddie will never turn down a chance to babysit Henry. I think he loves that kid more than me sometimes.”

Barry laughed a little, but then took a deep breath and let out a huge sigh. He wasn’t quite sure what he’d gotten himself into, agreeing to a date with Oliver. Ever since he’d met the man in coffee shop after all these years, things had started to change.

Henry was practically enamored with Oliver, but Henry couldn’t explain why. He kept saying Oliver smelled good like Barry did, and Barry felt guilty that he couldn’t tell him the truth that Oliver was his father too.

In addition, ever since Oliver had come back his suppressants had seemingly stopped working, or at least weren’t functioning nearly as well. It was possible that with Oliver back his body wanted to experience a true heat without any chemical interference which would sucked if that was the case. But, he knew enough about science and biology to know that something like that could only happen if his body recognized the pheromones of his mate, which he never thought Oliver was. _Or was he?_

It had gotten so bad, though, that he’d taken up doing the laundry at the house now because he didn’t want to subject Joe to having to deal with his slick coated boxers again like when he was a kid.

He’d gone to the doctor to get his dosage upped and for a week that had seemed to work. But when he ran into Oliver at the grocery store, the suppressants had started failing just a day after running into him. Oliver’s scent still seemed to linger in his nose after a while, and each time he felt a tiny wave of pleasure course through his body and slick start to form.

“I don’t know, Iris. It just feels weird going on a date with Oliver. I don’t know why though,” he mumbled.

“Well it’s because he’s Henry’s father, Barry. I’m not an expert on alphas or omegas, but I know enough to know that you and Oliver will always have some weird connection because of Henry, even if Oliver doesn’t know it,” she explained. Her words didn’t seem to ease his mind at all, but Iris got up off the bed and took his hand and smiled at him. “You owe it to yourself to be happy, Bar. And whether you want to admit it or not, something about Oliver still makes you happy. You probably won’t believe me, but you’ve weirdly been smiling more the last few days, and I think it’s because of him.”

“Wait, really?” he asked, turning an incredulous look towards her.

Iris nodded. “Even dad noticed. And while he’s not exactly happy about it being Oliver Queen, he’s just glad to see you smiling more than usual.”

Barry grinned but he could see a car pulling up to the house that wasn’t Joe’s car. “Oh my God, I think that’s him,” Barry said.

His suspicions were confirmed when he saw Oliver get out of the backset and walk up to the door.

“Well c’mon let’s go downstairs.” Iris ushered him out of the door right as the doorbell rang. When Barry got downstairs he saw Eddie already at the door with Henry in hand. Eddie answered it, and Oliver stood there, grinning though Barry could see that grin falter almost immediately when he saw Eddie holding Henry.

“Hey, Oliver!” Barry immediately greeted before Eddie could say anything, hoping that the alpha part of Oliver didn’t feel like mauling Eddie just yet.

“Hey, Barry,” Oliver said, less cheerful, and Barry could see his crisp blue eyes were still dead set on Eddie and Henry.

Iris seemed to notice it too and stepped forward with her brilliant smile. “It’s good to see you again, Oliver. This is Eddie, my boyfriend,” she introduced, making sure to put emphasis on it so he knew Eddie was her boyfriend.

Eddie smiled, and put a hand out to shake which Oliver did so, though still obviously annoyed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Queen.”

“Likewise,” Oliver said before turning to Barry.

“Mr. Oliver!” Henry yelled, reaching for Oliver again. Oliver smiled when he saw the little boy reaching out for him, and Barry could tell the two were already bonded which meant Oliver was probably going to get closer to the truth sooner or later which wasn’t good.

“Woah, Henry, calm down buddy,” Eddie said, playfully smiling and trying to keep the child in his hands.

Oliver’s face dropped into an immediate scowl, and seemed about ready to jump on Eddie for telling Henry what to do, and Barry figured the best thing to do was get Oliver away from Eddie and Henry as quickly as possible.

“You ready to go, Oliver?” he asked.

“Uhh—yeah. Yeah I’m good to go,” Oliver agreed.

Barry nodded, grabbing his coat off the rack nearby before walking out the door, turning back to wave at Iris and Eddie. “Thanks for babysitting. I owe you,” he called back.

They waved and closed the door and Barry walked beside Oliver to the car. Oliver opened the door for him to get in first and Oliver sat beside him while the driver started driving.

“So, Eddie seems to be really good with Henry,” Oliver started almost immediately.

Barry expected Oliver to start in pretty quickly. After all he was Henry’s father, and the two were bonded already.

“Yeah he’s really good with kids. He pretty much latched on to him when he came over the first time after he and Iris started dating,” Barry replied. “I think he’s one of the few people Henry’s really gotten attached to outside of Joe, Iris, and I, but I think it’s because Eddie spoils him with candy when I’m not paying attention.”

Oliver half smiled at that, but Barry could still sense Oliver was tense about Eddie and Henry’s closeness, so he figured it wouldn’t hurt to put his fears at ease. “Eddie isn’t Henry’s father, you know.”

Oliver turned to Barry with a shocked expression, but Barry could see the relief flood his eyes almost instantly, and it made Barry feel calm and relaxed. As much as it pained him to admit it, it was possible Oliver was his mate since they did have a child together, and Oliver’s emotions seemed to indirectly affect his own.  

“Barry, I—I wasn’t worried if he was the father, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Barry chuckled a little and turned a smile towards Oliver. “It’s fine, Oliver. I figured you were curious at least. Plus you and Henry seem to have hit it off.”

“I don’t know. He’s just a fun kid to be around. He’s got an infectious personality.”

Barry smiled and he could feel himself blushing at his compliment. Maybe one day he’d tell Oliver the truth, that half of Henry’s charm came from him. But for now that was a secret best kept to himself. His only concern now was making sure his suppressants held up around Oliver. He didn’t need their first date ending like the first time they’d met.

They drove in comfortable silence the rest of the way there, and within a few minutes they were outside the restaurant. They got out and went inside, being escorted to their seats almost as soon as they had walked in. Apparently Oliver had requested a secluded table towards the back where it wasn’t as noisy or crowded.

“This is great, Oliver,” Barry said amazed at the elegance of the place.

“I just wanted tonight to be special. I imagine you don’t get to go out much with Henry,” Oliver surmised.

Barry chuckled and nodded. “Yeah. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Iris and Joe help out a lot, and I at least get to hang out with friends sometimes. But I end up feeling guilty. Like I’m dumping Henry on them.”

“I get that. Doesn’t his mother or father help out sometimes?”

“It’s—” Barry stopped and let out a long sigh, trying to think of a way to skirt the question without raising Oliver’s suspicions. “It’s a complicated story, Oliver. But his father isn’t really in the picture at all.”

“That’s a shame. Henry’s—he’s a special kid. I can tell,” Oliver said, and Barry could see that Oliver was practically beaming. He only wondered what would happen if he’d found out now, after all these years, that he was the father.

He’d never been more thankful for the waiter’s appearance to take their drink orders which seemed to halt the conversation about Henry’s father. Oliver ordered them both an appetizer and the waiter disappeared to put in their orders.

“So, how is it being a big shot at Palmer Tech?” Barry asked, quickly moving to a new subject.

“It’s… alright. I wasn’t exactly happy when Ray bought out my family’s company, but he’s the reason it’s still alive. After all the scandals that happened, I was lucky Queen Consolidated even stayed in business,” Oliver admitted.

“I’ll admit, it’s hard to see you in news as a big successful businessman sometimes. I still remember the cocky alpha that hit on me in the bar five years ago,” Barry teased, grinning brightly. Oliver laughed, and Barry got a hint of alpha pheromones from Oliver, and he could feel his reserve start to chaff a little.

“Some days, I don’t even know either,” Oliver added. Barry could see a hint of sadness in Oliver’s eyes, and he wondered if it had anything to do with his father passing. He remembered seeing the news report that his father had died suddenly, and the statement Oliver had given to the press. He saw a vulnerable Oliver on the news, crying as he talked about how much he missed his father. He remembered wishing he could be there to comfort him.

 “So what do you do, Barry?” Oliver asked, jumping to a new topic again.

“I’m a forensic scientist in the CSI division at the Central City Police Department. My foster father, Joe, is a detective there and he helped me get the job after graduation,” Barry answered.

“Wow, that’s really cool, Barry. I guess that’s what you majored in when you were in college? I never got a chance to ask you all those years ago.”

Barry nodded. “I was a double major actually in forensic science and criminal justice. I was going to get my masters actually, but after Henry was born I didn’t really get the chance.” Barry figured he looked upset, but he didn’t want to show it because he wasn’t. Henry was the greatest thing to happen to him, so he couldn’t be upset by that.

“Well if it’s any consolation, Henry is perfect,” Oliver praised, taking a sip of wine, but his smile evident still.

Barry smiled. “Thanks, Oliver.” Barry hot underneath his clothes and he had a sinking suspicion that his suppressants were once again starting to fail.

After that the dinner went by quickly, both of them asking questions and getting to one another better. Barry had learned that Oliver was in town until the building was complete and then would run the new headquarters which meant he would be in Central City on and off. Knowing that for some reason made him happy. In fact, it made him wonder if he and Oliver could actually be something.

The waiter had brought out the checks and Barry figured that tonight had gone pretty well. Learning about Oliver, and Oliver seemingly interested in knowing everything about him, made him believe that maybe this wasn’t a bad idea. Maybe he and Oliver could be a family, even with Henry.

And with those thoughts coursing through him, he felt his body shiver and he could see Oliver’s eyes go wide for a moment, and Barry realized he was leaking hormones that Oliver could smell.

“Uhh, sorry. I think my suppressants aren’t working all that well,” he apologized.

“It’s fine, Barry. But I think we should probably get out of here before every alpha in the area starts sniffing around,” Oliver advised.

Barry nodded, and when they finished paying, they quickly retreated from the restaurant, and Barry felt mortified that his hormones had once again taken over while he was with Oliver. Oliver ushered him into the back of the car when the driver pulled around, and Barry felt the first wave of slick start to form, and Barry prayed that he could get home and take more of his suppressants before he went into full heat. He just hoped he remembered where he’d put them.  

They drove in silence for a bit, Barry feeling mortified that he was leaking slick and radiating so much hormones. He could see Oliver’s hands curled up into a fist, clenching tighter the worse his heat came on.

“I’m sorry for ruining our date, Oliver,” he apologized again, but Oliver shook his head and shushed him with a smile.

“You’ve got nothing to apologize for, Barry. I’m just sorry that being around me made this happen again,” Oliver replied, his voice quieter and seemingly upset.

“Oliver, it’s not your fault. I—I actually enjoyed our dinner tonight. I’m kinda hoping you enjoyed it too, minus the whole heat pheromones thing,” Barry revealed.

Oliver smirked and nodded. “I did. I really did, Barry. I’m hoping we can do it again soon. Maybe this weekend?”

Barry laughed and smiled, and Oliver was already treasuring that bright, enthused look on the man’s face. “Yeah. I’d love that actually.”

Barry a flood of relief when they pulled up to the house, and he rushed to get out, but he felt bad leaving Oliver behind without saying good night properly. Plus as much as he was initially against it, Henry would probably want to see Oliver, and he didn’t want to deny his son that at least.  

“You can come in for a minute if you want,” he offered.

“Are you sure, Barry? I figured you’d want to get changed,” Oliver reminded him.

“It’s fine. I didn’t know if you wanted to talk to Henry for a bit.”

Oliver seemed to agree with that and he got out and walked beside Barry. Barry was about to get his keys out and unlock the door when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Barry, wait,” Oliver said.

Barry quit fiddling with the lock and looked up, but the moment he did, Oliver pulled him into a kiss, and Barry instantly melted into it, feeling Oliver’s hands grip and hold him up. It was comfortable, and Barry had flashbacks to that night five years ago, in a situation so similar. But it felt different now. Maybe because he knew Oliver a little better now, or maybe because he’d spent five years pretending that he was okay not exploring what could’ve been with him.

But now, all that mattered was that Oliver’s lips were on his, and his he was happy.

A cold wind blew, and Oliver took that as a sign to pull back, and he and Barry stood there, grinning like loons. Barry could smell something different now. It smelled almost like his and Oliver’s scents combined. It smelled earthy and rich, eerily similar to how Henry smelled sometimes, but it was intoxicating and he couldn’t resist the pull.

“Wow, that’s gotta be the best kiss I’ve had in a long time,” Barry said with a lop-sided grin.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for years. I’m just glad I got the chance to do so now,” Oliver remarked.

As another cold wind blew, Barry remembered that he still had his keys and was still very much about to go into heat, so he quickly unlocked the door, allowing Oliver and himself inside. He closed the door and was greeted with the sight of Eddie and Iris watching Hercules while Henry was sitting in the recliner drinking from his juice box happily until he saw Barry and Oliver walk in.

“Daddy! Mr. Oliver!” Henry yelled. Henry jumped out of the recliner and sprinted over to the two of them, and Barry crouched down and pulled Henry into a hug, and kissing him on the cheek which Henry responded with a kiss of his own.

“Hey, buddy. Did you have fun with Uncle Eddie and Aunt Iris?” Barry asked.

“Yeah! We played games, and had pizza, and Uncle Eddie even gave me ice cream,” Henry cheerfully exclaimed.

Barry looked up at Eddie, giving him a evil eye because the last thing Henry needed was extra sugar. Though to be fair, Eddie wasn’t any worse than Joe or Iris when it came to spoiling Henry.

Eddie shrugged apologetically. “Sorry, Bar. I couldn’t help it.”

Henry squirmed out of Barry’s grasp and moved over to Oliver, and reached out for Oliver to pick him up again, and Oliver obliged, pulling Henry up. Henry quickly nuzzled his face into Oliver’s neck, and Barry knew he was scenting the man again.

Some new emotion started to fill Barry, and he felt both relaxed, but uneasy. It felt like family. A sense of family he hadn’t felt in a long time since he first accepted that Joe and Iris were his new family since his father was in jail and his mother was gone.

That moment was interrupted when something crossed Oliver’s face. His eyes went wide for a minute and his expression seemed somber for a moment.

“Oliver, is everything alright?” Barry asked.

“Hmm—oh yeah. I’m fine. I just remembered that I needed to finish some reports for work tomorrow is all. Barry, didn’t you need to take some pills.”

Barry wasn’t quite sure Oliver was telling him the whole story of what was bothering him, but Oliver was also right. He needed to take some more suppressants to stave off going into full heat.

“Oh yeah. Umm, Iris, do you know where I left my pills?” Barry asked.

“I’m not sure actually. Eddie and I can help you look for them though,” Iris offered.

Barry turned to Oliver with he could still tell something was off with him even though Oliver was paying attention to Henry and smiling. “Oliver do you mind, staying with Henry for just a few minutes?”

“Yeah, it’s no problem, Barry.”

Barry smiled and nodded before going with Eddie and Iris upstairs where he might’ve left his pills. They all walked into Barry’s room and Iris quietly shut the door before turning to Barry.

“So how was it?” she asked, smiling excitedly.

“It was good. We—uh—we kissed, and I’m kind of about to go into heat because his scent still kinda drives me crazy so there’s that too,” he answered.

“I didn’t know scents could do that. I feel like I learned something new today,” Eddie chimed in.

“Yeah, but I think we’re actually going somewhere. We learned a lot about each other, and I think we may actually have a future. I don’t know… everything just feels right. He seemed really interested in me and what I do,” Barry said, and he could feel the easy smile spread across his face.

“That’s really great, Bar,” Iris congratulated.

Eddie agreed, patting Barry on the shoulder with a large smile on his face. “I’m with Iris. You deserve to be happy, Barry.”

“Thanks, guys,” Barry replied.

Barry watched Iris open his closet and looked around, and after a few moments she threw him his bottle of suppressants, much to his surprise.

“Where were they?” he asked.

“Same place they were last time you lost them. Hidden in your closet around your clothes where you were probably looking for something to wear.”

She was right. He was late for work again this morning, and he remembered taking two pills while scrambling to look for something to wear to run out the door. Barry breathed a sigh of relief though and took the pills downstairs with Eddie and Iris following him.

Barry was surprised to see Oliver sitting on the couch with Henry sitting contently on his lap. He stood up much to Henry’s displeasure, given the disapproving grunt the boy let out when Oliver moved.

“Hopefully, he wasn’t too much,” Barry said with a joking smile.

Oliver gave a breathy laugh and shook his head. “No. He was fine. He’s a good kid.”

Henry got off the couch and went over to Barry, pulling on his pant leg. “Daddy, can Mr. Oliver stay? I wanna show him my toys and show him all the pictures I colored.”

Barry shook his head and picked his son up. “Sorry, Henry. Oliver has to go to work tomorrow just like daddy does.”

“Well can Mr. Oliver, be my other daddy. Everyone else in pre-K has two mommies and daddies,” Henry pleaded.

Barry shook his head and turned to Oliver offering a tiny smile. “I think he’s grown extremely attached to you, Oliver.”

Oliver smiled and looked down at the boy. “Well to be fair, I’ve already grown attached to him. He’s an amazing little guy. Isn’t that right, Henry?”

Henry nodded enthusiastically at Oliver, and Barry couldn’t help but smile. Iris stepped in though and crouched down to Henry.

“How about Eddie and I read you your favorite book before bed?”

Henry looked to Oliver before nodding his head gently and taking Iris’ hand and walking with her and Eddie upstairs.

“I should probably let you get out of here before Henry throws a tantrum about you staying,” Barry said with a sigh.

“Yeah. Maybe next time I can play with him, if that’s okay with you?” Oliver asked.

Barry couldn’t help the look of shock that he was giving Oliver, but he tried to correct it when he saw Oliver give him a peculiar look. “Oh—umm sure. I think Henry would love that.”

Oliver nodded and walked towards the door, and Barry followed him.

“I had a really great time tonight, Oliver,” Barry said before Oliver walked out the door.

“I did too, Barry. I was thinking, maybe this weekend we could get dinner again?” Oliver offered.

“Yeah. Yeah I think I’d like that.”

Oliver smiled and kissed Barry again, and Barry wrapped his hands around Oliver’s neck, as he kissed back. If anyone would’ve said he’d feel this way about Oliver after just one date, he’d have said they’re crazy. But here he was, tongue in Oliver Queen’s mouth, and the happiest he’d been in a long time.

Oliver pulled back and smiled one last time. “I’ll call you later this week,” he promised.

Barry nodded and grinned. “Sounds good. Good night, Oliver.”

“Good night, Barry.”

Barry watched Oliver walk leave and walk back to his car and drive off, waving back to him before he was out of sight, and he closed the door.

When he shut the door, he felt an indescribable happiness. Maybe he could invite Oliver into his life, and into Henry’s life. Maybe Oliver could know the truth one day. But, the fear of Oliver finding out and blaming him was still very real, and he knew that no matter what happened, he was stuck in a very bad situation.

 

**~OoO~**

_Barry’s scent was too irresistible and Oliver had to see all of Barry naked, see how desperate his omega was for him._

_Oliver moved to undo Barry’s pants, struggling to pull them down as Barry had started nearly rutting in desperation. Oliver struggled, but eventually coaxed Barry up enough to pull down his pants and boxers leaving the man stark naked, and what a sight it was. Barry was hard, his cock trickling precome down onto his chest as slick was slowly dripping from his hole._

_It was all too overwhelming for him, and he if he didn’t get inside Barry soon, he was probably going to die of anticipation._

_“Oliver… please… need you,” Barry whined._

_Oliver could only grunt in reply and focused on quickly removing his own pants. When he was naked, Barry whimpered and Oliver felt Barry’s hands start to stroke his cock, and Oliver had to resist the urge to slap them away, because all he wanted was for his cock to be buried inside Barry and to knot him until Barry was completely spent and exhausted._

_Barry instinctively crawled back on the bed, getting on all fours and presenting his ass to Oliver, and Oliver could see how ready Barry’s hole was, pink and fluttering while wet with slick that was still trickling down his thigh. Barry was ripe and filled with need and he wanted—no, needed to satisfy the omega’s need._

_He crawled back onto the bed behind Barry, and he slipped one finger inside Barry’s hole, his finger sliding in and out easily as he pumped it into the omega. The scent of lust and want grew stronger from Barry, and Oliver slid a second finger in. Barry was seemingly lost in the feeling and pushing back onto Oliver’s fingers almost completely in sync with Oliver’s fingers._

_“No more—Oliver. Need you. Need your knot. Please.”_

_Barry’s whines were fuel for him and he couldn’t ignore the pleas of his omega. Oliver lifted himself up off the bed slightly before gripping Barry’s hips tightly. He lined his already hard and slightly leaking cock up with his hole and pressing in slowly._

_Barry moaned and panted as Oliver pushed him inside, and Oliver simply lavished watching Barry stretch around him, his hole warm and wet to accommodate his cock. When he was completely buried inside Barry, he gave the omega a chance to move to adjust around him, but Barry only squirmed in anticipation, his voice completely wrecked as he continued to pant harder._

_“Move, Oliver,” he demanded, and Oliver growled in response._

_Barry started to move against him, trying to impale himself on Oliver’s cock, but Oliver gripped Barry’s hips tighter to still him before pulling back out and slamming himself back into Barry hard. Before he knew it, he was bent over Barry, thrusting slowly at first to find a nice rhythm and open Barry up more._

_But eventually he was thrusting wildly into Barry while Barry pushed back to add to the sensation, moaning wantonly as he did so._

_“C’mon, Oliver. Harder. Please.”_

_Oliver let his lips tease the skin of Barry’s neck, kissing and sucking gently on it to mark Barry, his omega. He could feel the base of his cock start to swell and he knew that soon he’d be knotting Barry, and he was almost too ecstatic for that moment._

_He fucked into Barry harder, enjoying the primal sound of their skin slapping against each other and Barry’s groaning. Barry’s scent was starting to mix with his creating the most irresistible, earthy scent Oliver had ever smelled, even better than the smell of Barry in full heat._

_His knot grew and soon his cock was catching on Barry’s rim, and Barry was yelling, hands fisted tightly into his sheets as Oliver pounded him, and Oliver took a little too much pride seeing Barry so lost in pleasure._

_“I’m gonna knot you, Barry. Is that what you want. For your alpha to knot you, breed you?” Oliver growled._

_Barry whimpered, and Oliver could smell it almost immediately, Barry coming on the sheets beneath him, his body going loose and trembling, but his ass tightening around Oliver’s cock, and that was all it took to make Oliver’s knot pop completely._

_With one last beastly groan and thrust, Oliver buried himself completely in Barry, and his knot started pulsing as he came. Barry still had some energy left in him and continued to move on Oliver’s knot, milking his cock for all the come he could take until he was full._

_Eventually Barry wore himself out, and Oliver caught him before he could collapse onto the bed and injure himself on Oliver’s knot that was effectively stuck inside the man._

_“You did so good, Barry. You did so good for me, my omega,” he praised._

_Barry practically whined at the praise, and Oliver wished he could see those hazel eyes and the well fucked expression on his face._

_The euphoric haze was starting to fall over him, and Barry too, who looked beyond ready to pass out. Oliver gently rolled them on their sides, spooning Barry from behind and wrapping his arms around the younger man._

_“You smell so good, Barry. You smell like us,” Oliver said._

_Barry let out a weak laugh and he tangled his legs with Oliver’s. “God, this is perfect,” Barry sighed, voice sounding weak and tired._

_Oliver card his fingers through Barry’s sweat-damp hair as the omega went to sleep, his stomach rising and falling gently in a sleepy rhythm._

_“My omega. My mate,” he whispered, happy and content and ready to sleep and wake to his omega soon enough._

 

**~OoO~**

 

“So you have a video conference with the board at one, and then you have a building progress meeting with the project managers at three and—” Felicity stopped when she could see that Oliver wasn’t paying attention again. “Oliver!”

Oliver jumped and turned his attention away from the window in his tiny office back to Felicity, and he could see the frustration in her eyes.

“Hmm, what was that?” he asked.

“Did you hear a word that I just said?”

“You said something about a board meeting, and managing a project. I’m paying attention,” he countered.

Felicity sighed and took a seat, and he was pretty much expecting to be chastised about his lack of focus.

“Oliver, what is wrong with you?”

It had only started recently, in the last week or so, and he was well aware of what was causing his sudden lack of drive and attentiveness.

Things with Barry had been great in the last month and a half. The two of them had surprisingly found time for lunch and dinner dates, and Oliver had been to Barry’s house a few more times since their first date. It was everything he wished he could’ve had with Barry all those years ago, but he wasn’t going to complain that he was at least getting to do this now.

The problem was Henry. Oliver knew he was way too attached to the four and a half year old, and he found himself spoiling Henry, buying a toy for Barry to give to him almost every time they went out. But after that first night, when he and Barry first kissed, their scents had mixed almost like it had five years ago. That’s when he recognized something. Henry smelled almost just like that scent. 

It was different, but almost immediately recognizable, and Oliver felt his world freeze for a moment. He had thoughts in the back of his head, but he never figured there was a chance Henry could be his.

But now the chance was very real, but for the sake of his relationship with Barry, he tried not to push it, but he had to know. The question was when.

“I’m fine, Felicity. I’ve just felt a little sick is all,” he lied.

Felicity saw right through his lie and gave him a disbelieving look. “How about you try again, and with the truth this time.”

Oliver sighed and rolled his eyes. “It’s nothing.”

“Oliver, for the last week you have been out of it. You almost missed last week’s board meeting, you’re behind on almost all your paper work this week, and you skipped out on a very important business dinner to go babysit Barry’s son.” Felicity stopped and Oliver tried to look away, knowing full well she was starting to hone in on the root of the problem. “Does this have anything to do with Barry?”

“No, Felicity it doesn’t.”

“You’re lying,” Felicity argued, face set in a stone cold expression.

He knew when to cut his losses and Felicity would most likely hawk him until she eventually got to the bottom of what was wrong.

“Fine. It is Barry, or at least partly about Barry,” he admitted.

“I thought things were going pretty well with you two?”

Oliver took a deep breath and reached into his pocket, pulling out a plastic bag that he’d been carrying around for a few weeks now and handed it to Felicity.

“Is this… hair?” she asked, examining the bag.

“It’s hair from Henry, Barry’s son.”

Felicity looked at Oliver confused for a moment, but she seemed to understand relatively quickly what Oliver was up to.

“Oliver, you’re not—you don’t think Barry’s son is yours do you?” she asked.

“Felicity, I—I’ve haven’t told you the whole truth. Barry… he was the omega. The one I told you about from all those years ago.”

Felicity’s eyes went wide with shock and she took a seat across from him, the urge to yell and berate him seemingly draining from her almost immediately.

“Wait, he’s the college student that you kept practically pining over?”

Oliver nodded his head, and Felicity seemed to let some of the initial shock fade, but only slightly. It was true though. Ever since that night with Barry, Oliver hadn’t exactly taken to dating anyone long-term. He tried a date or two every once in a while, but it was Barry he’d been craving. It was probably because he’d knotted and essentially mated Barry, something he avoided doing with everyone he’d ever slept with, which wasn’t hard since he’d only ever had the urge to mate with Barry.

“Do you think that one time could’ve resulted in Henry?” Felicity asked.

“He’s the only person I’ve ever knotted, Felicity. And Henry… he’s around the age of when Barry and I would’ve slept together. Plus, Felicity, I can’t explain how I feel about Henry. I’ve only known him for a month, but I feel like he’s the most important thing in my life right now. I can immediately smell him and sense how he feels. It’s just weird.”

“That’s not surprising actually, if Henry is your son that is,” Felicity explained. She got and grabbed her laptop and started looking something up on it before getting an a-ha look on her face. “Here it is. What you’re experiencing is alpha attachment syndrome.”

“What the hell is alpha attachment syndrome?”

Felicity turned her laptop around and showed Oliver a webpage that was pulled up on the medical ailment she just named.

“I started studying up on alphas when I took the job as your assistant, and it’s something I learned about. It’s when an alpha parent has been separated from their child for an extended period of time. You usually end up scenting the child and experiencing intense feelings of attachment to them in a very short period of time. It affects the child too if he or she is an alpha or an omega. The child will start scenting the parent constantly because they smell inexplicably good to them,” she explained.

And just like that it all fell into place. He finally had a word for what it was that he was experiencing with Henry. Any fear of knowing now had faded. Now he just had to know the truth of whether Henry was his son.

“Felicity, I need a huge favor,” he asked.

She already seem prepared for what he was about to ask, and took the bagged hair strands off the table.

“You need to run a DNA test on the hair don’t you?” she asked, already aware of what he needed. Oliver nodded, and she gave him a half smile. “I’ll run a DNA test on the strands and see what I find out. When’s the next time you see, Barry?” 

Oliver sighed. “Tonight. I’m supposed to cook dinner for him at the apartment.” He turned up to look at her, trying to choke down the fear lingering in the back of his mind. “What if it’s true, Felicity, and Henry is my son? What do I do?”

“Just relax, Oliver. If it’s true that Henry is your son, then Barry must have had some reason for not telling you. Try not to think about it until you know.”

Oliver sighed and nodded. All of his feelings for Barry had come back in full force, and he knew that he could easily say he was in love with Barry and madly in love with Henry. But he wondered if that could hold up if it was true that Barry had lied to him about Henry.

He honestly didn’t know what to hope for at this point.

 

**~OoO~**

 

_Oliver could sense the rays of sun starting to beat through the window, and he begrudgingly let his body awaken and adjust. But the feeling of comfort and warmth that he had expected to feel was missing. He jolted awake and immediately started to look for Barry, look for his omega who he expected to be snoozing beside him._

_Barry was nowhere to be seen, but his scent lingered heavily in the room. He jumped out of bed and immediately scrambled outside into the main room to see if Barry had snuck out there, but as he looked around there was no sign of anyone but himself._

_He felt his chest start to tighten, and he wanted to yell and curse. He felt like a piece of him was missing without Barry here._

_“Barry!” he yelled, praying for a response or something. He heard nothing, and that’s when the first warm tear fell down his face._

_He took a few deep breaths to try and censor his emotions, but it was impossible. The part of him, his alpha, was in agonizing pain without his omega._

_He wanted to spend all of today learning everything about Barry. Learning how his mind worked, what he loved, what he hated. He wanted to memorize every mark on his body, the sound of his heartbeat, the rhythm of his breathing._

_But it was all gone. Robbed from him in the blink of an eye._

_His body felt weak and useless, but somehow he managed to get the strength to move back to the bed, the one place that still smelled heavily of both him and Barry. He covered himself in the blanket, and let the tears fall._

_He was in pain, and he didn’t know how he would recover from it._

 

**~OoO~**

 

If Barry had any fears of dating and being with Oliver remaining, they had all disappeared after tonight. Oliver had somehow managed to sweep him off his feet in just one night just by being normal. Oliver had seemed distracted at first, but as the night went on, he relaxed, smiling and doting on Barry as much as possible.

They’d gone to the mall just to walk around and look, and then Oliver had told him he had a surprise dinner waiting for him back at the apartment. That was how he ended up completely caught by surprise, eating chicken cordon bleu that Oliver had prepared himself, and drinking a bottle of expensive wine special ordered by Oliver himself.

“Oliver, this was amazing!” Barry said as he finished the last of the chicken cordon bleu he’d spent the last few hours preparing. “I guess I owe you since I said you couldn’t do it.”

Oliver laughed and shook his head. “I don’t think a lot of people think I could cook, but I had to do something when I was stuck at home hiding from the paparazzi or grounded from leaving the house. Raisa, one of our house-staff, used to teach me how to cook.” Oliver stopped and turned a bright smile towards him. “She said I’d need to learn it one day to wow the person I fell in love with. Guess she was right,” Oliver said with a bright smile.

Barry nearly choked when Oliver finished. He was pretty sure Oliver used the word love, and they had only been together for two months. But the weird part is that Barry wanted to reciprocate it.

“I know it’s weird saying that, and I’ll admit, I was afraid to say it… but just spending time with you after all these years, I know how I feel about you. I love you, Barry.”

Maybe it was because of the bond they had formed five years ago, but the word love didn’t feel wrong when he thought about Oliver either.

“I… I guess so. I love you too, Oliver,” he stammered nervously. The bright smile that spread across Oliver’s face though made the admission well worth it. “I never thought I could say that to someone after just a couple of months, but I know I mean it. It’s just weird.”

“That’s probably the best thing I’ve heard in a very long time, Barry,” Oliver said. Oliver leaned across the dining room table and put a hand on Barry’s cheek before leaning in to kiss him, gently on the lips. Barry welcomed the kiss eagerly, feeling happier than he had in a while.

Oliver was everything Barry thought he wouldn’t be: dependable, honest, fun. All of these things were so contrary to the bad boy Oliver had been all those years ago when they first slept together.

Maybe the most important thing about Oliver was the undying love he had for Henry. Oliver did everything for Henry and loved on him in a way that he’d never expected. He’d even taken to moving their dates to Barry’s house just so he could spend time with both him and Henry.

It almost felt like a true family.

That was why it was getting harder not to tell Oliver the truth. Joe said it wasn’t time, and that things were just too fragile between them. But he was starting to think it was getting to a point where not telling him was doing more harm.

And Henry clung to Oliver just like he clung to him, and Barry felt even guiltier denying his son both parents like he truly deserved. But he let his fears fall to the back of his mind because right now he was happy having Oliver here, kissing him.

When Oliver pulled back, Barry was smiling like a loon hoping he didn’t look too head over heels, though he imagined it was probably evident in his scent.

He’d taken triple dose of suppressants this time to stave off his heat, and thus far it had worked, the only thing he felt was a complete mesmerization with Oliver’s alpha scent.

Oliver took the finished plates off the table and walked them over to the sink, running the water while Barry sat back and just watched him.

“So, where’s Henry for the night?” Oliver asked.

“He’s staying the night at Iris and Eddie’s apartment, so both Joe and I could get a break. When I texted Iris, she said he’s completely wrapped up in _101 Dalmatians_ and keeps saying he wants a dog now,” Barry laughed. He turned a playfully accusatory look towards Oliver who was grinning back at him. “And that’s not an invitation to buy him one, Oliver. Mostly, because Joe and I don’t want to put up with a dog.”

Oliver laughed as he started putting the dishes away in the dishwasher. “I promise I won’t, Barry.” When he was finished putting everything away he walked back over, and Barry stood up, letting Oliver wrap his arms around his waist before leaning in to kiss him again. “So, does that mean you have the night to yourself?”

Barry smirked and nodded. “Joe’s at home sleeping, and Iris and Eddie are watching movies with Henry all night, so I think that frees me up for once.”

“Well why don’t we put this free time to use, and you spend the night here with me?” he suggested.

Barry wasn’t surprised by the suggestion and he honestly was hoping it would come because he truly wanted to, partly because he was truly happy being with Oliver, and also because he had a chance to make up for the pain he knew he’d caused him all those years ago.

Leaving an alpha especially after they knot was one of the worst things you could do to them. It was a time when they were most vulnerable and needed their omega, and Barry had left Oliver high and dry.

“Yeah. I’d really like that,” he agreed.

Oliver kissed him, and before Barry knew it, he was being whisked into the bedroom, Oliver kissing him eagerly while Barry let his hands roam across the Oliver’s back. They tumbled onto the king sized bed, Barry on his back laughing while Oliver was straddling and kissing his neck tenderly.

“So are we just gonna have sex all night?” Barry asked, laughing in bliss as Oliver gently bit at his neck, tickling him.

“Are you complaining?”

Barry sat up on the bed and pressed a light kiss to Oliver’s lips. “Nope. No complaints here.”

Oliver chuckled and pushed Barry back down, capturing his lips in a rough kiss, tongue parting Barry’s lips and dipping into his mouth. Barry felt his body go slack, letting Oliver take what he wanted, and simply savoring the scent of the hungry alpha. His body, thankfully, was cooperating, and he couldn’t feel any slick which was a sign that his suppressants were still holding up.

Oliver sat up and took his shirt off, tossing it to the ground and he let one of his hands undo the belt and button on Barry’s pants before letting on of his hands slip underneath Barry’s pants. Barry started breathing heavily as Oliver’s hands slowly dug underneath his boxers, wrapping around his cock that was already hard and wanting.

“God, you don’t waste anytime do you,” Barry breathed.

“Don’t want to. You smell too damn good,” Oliver growled.

Everything about this felt right. Oliver hands on his body, his scent, the hunger lingering in Oliver’s bright blue eyes. He felt like a child on Christmas morning which was why he wanted to destroy Oliver’s phone when it started ringing.

Barry and Oliver both ignored it and continued on, Oliver’s hands still jerking him off through his boxers as the phone went silent. The phone started ringing again, and Oliver groaned angrily before removing his hand and getting off Barry.

“Whoever it is, tell them they’re ruining the best night of my life,” he joked, though it was partially true.

Oliver laughed before storming over to nightstand where his phone was sitting and stared down at the caller ID before pressing the answer button.

“Felicity, now is not a good time to—”

Barry heard Oliver’s voice stop completely, and he turned back to see Oliver’s face locked in some unreadable, hard expression. Oliver immediately hung up the phone and stood there for a minute completely still and silent.

“Is everything okay, Oliver?” he asked.

Barry knew Felicity was Oliver’s next in charge and she handled a lot of his business affairs, so he figured if that was her on the phone something must have gone wrong at work.

“I just need a minute, Barry,” he said, voice soft and fragile like it could crack at any moment. Oliver picked up his shirt and walked out into the living room while Barry watched completely and utterly caught off-guard.

“Oliver, wait,” Barry called out. He buttoned up his pants and went out into the living room behind him, and he watched as Oliver started pacing back and forth, his breathing erratic and his eyes getting red with what looked like tears. “Oliver… are you sure you’re alright?”

Oliver choked back what sounded like a sob before he turned a saddened expression towards him. “Barry… I—I need you to tell me the truth.”

Barry froze and gave Oliver a strange look. He wasn’t sure what could’ve gone wrong in just a couple of minutes, especially after things were going so well.

“Oliver, what are you talking about?”

Oliver took a deep breath, and it was evident that he was truly struggling to hold back a flood of emotions. His scent was tainted with the grief and anger and Barry could feel himself wanting to comfort him.

“Who is Henry’s father? I need to know the truth.”

Barry was too shocked to look away from Oliver, no matter how badly he wanted to. He swallowed and took a deep breath, and made the split second decision not to tell him. It wasn’t time yet, at least not now.

“Oliver, I told you… his father, he—he’s not in the picture because—”

“Because it’s me.” Oliver pointed a finger at Barry, and what looked like accusation lingered in his saddened blue eyes. “Henry is my son, isn’t he?”

Barry had only felt anxiety like three times in his life. Once when coroners had pronounced his mother dead said, once when the judge had sentenced his father to prison for her death, and when the doctor had told him he was pregnant. But now it was back in full, and all because the secret he’d prayed Oliver would never learn was finally out.

“Oliver—h—how did you find out?” he asked, his voice teemed with fear.

“I had Felicity run a DNA test. How could you lie to me about that, Barry?” The admission sent a jolt of anger coursing through him.

“What the hell, Oliver? You did a DNA test on Henry behind my back!” he yelled. He could feel the tears start to form in his eyes. The emotions were all coming on too quickly. The secret he’d been holding onto for so many years was starting to unravel right in front of him and with it so were he and Oliver.

“When were you going to tell me, Barry?” Oliver said, not even bothering to hide the embittered quiver in his voice. “Were you even going to tell Henry? I’ve missed so much in his life, and I can’t get that back ever.”

Hearing Oliver so broken dulled his anger, instead and leave him with a feeling of guilt but he didn’t know what to do or what to say. All that he could do was try and make sense of the bottomless fear he was feeling.

“Oliver—I can explain,” he said. Oliver went silent thought the hurt on his face spoke more than loud enough for him. He took a deep breath and prepared to tell all the secrets he’d been holding onto for so long. “After we had sex that one time, I… I panicked. I knew what might happen, but I didn’t want to face the consequences of it. I went into heat and we had sex, and I knew that there was a chance I got pregnant from it. It took me two weeks to even go to the doctor and confirm it, and when the doctor said I was, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if I could finish school, how I was going to tell Joe, or how I was even going to be able to afford to keep a child.”

“Barry, I would’ve helped you,” Oliver murmured.

Barry shook his head and a tear fell down his face. “Oliver, you were different back then. You had just avoided being charged with a DUI when we met, and you were always in the news for sleeping around with someone or getting in trouble. I—I didn’t think I could raise a child around you, Oliver. Hell, I didn’t even think you would want to be involved. I mean I was just another sexual conquest to you—”

“No you weren’t, Barry!” Oliver yelled. Barry was stunned into silence by Oliver’s sudden outburst and he quieted, the alpha rage silencing the docile omega in him. “You were never just a random person to me. Barry, when you disappeared that morning, I was broken. I couldn’t eat, sleep, even think for weeks because I needed you. I never forgot about you.”

“Oliver… I’m sorry for what I did to you. But… I did what I felt I had to do for Henry. I couldn’t let him be a part of your life because you were reckless and terrible influence.”

“How is that fair to me, Barry? You took away my son from me. I didn’t get to see his first steps, his first words, his first birthday. I missed it all. How can you say you did what was best for him?”

The accusation sent a vile wave of bitterness, anger, and rejection coursing through Barry’s body, and he wanted to vomit. Oliver’s scent was so off-putting to him, that he felt like he needed to get away as quickly as possible.

“I never meant to hurt you. But, I did what I thought was best for Henry, and I can’t regret that decision. Not now, Oliver. I—I’m sorry.”

The tears on both of their faces were falling steadily, but Oliver was the one who wiped them away first before walking to the front door.

“I think you need to go, Barry,” Oliver said, voice broken and filled with anger.

“Oliver, please. Don’t do this,” Barry begged.

“Barry. I can’t. Just go,” Oliver sobbed, shaking his head.

Barry took a deep breath, and walked forward out the door, careful to avoid looking at Oliver until he was outside. He looked back at Oliver who looked ready to collapse, and it just made his heart hurt more. “Oliver, I’m sorry.”

With that, Oliver closed the door, leaving Barry alone in the hallway outside his apartment, and Barry just stood there for a moment.

At some point he willed his legs to work and he walked down to where he had parked, and waiting until he was the car Joe let him borrow before letting himself cry uncontrollably.

The worst had happened, and he didn’t know how he could ever fix it, for himself, for Oliver, and worst of all, for Henry.

 

**~OoO~**

 

Three weeks had gone by, but Barry had felt like his entire life had come to a complete stand-still, and somehow the joy in his life had been sucked out. Every time he had a moment to himself he replayed that night in Oliver’s apartment. He could still see the hurt and pain on Oliver’s face when he learned the truth.

When he’d gone home that night, he remembered crying on Joe’s shoulder for hours until he eventually wore himself out to sleep. Joe had just comforted him, never blaming him, or Oliver, much to his surprise. He just listened and told him to be strong for Henry.

But Henry was smart even for a four and half year old, and it hurt when every day Henry would ask why he seemed so sad. It was even worse when Henry would give him little kisses in hopes of making him feel better only to see it didn’t help much.

But he put on as much of a face as he could. It just wasn’t enough though.

He missed Oliver, and he only wished he could’ve found a better way to tell him without hurting him the way he had. But in a situation like this, there was good or easy way.

Today, though, he managed to feel marginally better as a surprise visit to the CCPD by Iris and Henry seemed to lift his mood a little.

“Henry, aren’t you glad you got to see your daddy at work today?” Iris asked, earning an enthusiastic nod from the little boy.

Barry looked back at his son, smiling more now than he had in the last few weeks. He went back to analyzing a blood sample for a report that Joe and Eddie needed later for a case they were working on. His hope was that maybe he could get out early and do something with Henry since he felt like a horrible parent given how depressed he’d been recently.

“How are you feeling, Bar?” Iris asked as she walked up behind him.

“I don’t know, Iris. I just wish things with Oliver had gone better. I just feel like I’ve screwed up as a parent, keeping this from both him and Henry.”

Iris shook her head and smiled sympathetically. “I can already tell you that the last thing you’ve done is fail Henry as a parent. Everything you’ve done is to give Henry the best life you thought you could give him. You can’t beat yourself up about that,” she consoled.

“Thanks, Iris. Maybe this feeling will go away soon enough. I just wish I could talk to Oliver, but I don’t think that’ll happen anytime soon,” Barry said with a sigh.

“It’ll work itself out, Barry.” She gave a tender pat on the shoulder, and he turned around to see Henry bouncing around in the chair he was sitting in.

“Are we gonna see Mr. Oliver, daddy?” Henry asked.

Barry offered a gentle smile and walked over to Henry, crouching down and taking Henry’s tiny little hands into his own. “Sorry, buddy. I don’t think we’ll see Mr. Oliver again for a while.”

Henry’s expression fell at that, and Barry felt his heart breaking even further. All of this was affecting the one person he’d ironically hoped to protect and that was draining him of any remaining happiness he had left.

“But, why? I want to show him my new toys,” Henry whined.

“He—he had other things to do, Henry. Maybe you can show your new toys to Eddie,” Barry sighed.

Henry didn’t seem pleased by his answer, but Barry didn’t have the brain power left to come up with another lie to tell him, and at some point he wanted to stop telling him lies. But now just felt wrong, especially with him and Oliver ending the way they did.

“Maybe Henry and I should head out. We can all do something when you get home,” Iris suggested. Barry nodded and smiled at her, mouthing thank you to her for getting Henry out before he could ask any more questions.

“C’mon, Henry. We’re gonna let your daddy finish working. We can go see Grandpa Joe at home,” Iris commented as she picked him up and walked out of his lab. “We’ll see you later, Bar.” Iris waved goodbye and Henry followed suit, waving back at him, and Barry waved bye to them both, hiding his pain behind a tiny smile.

When they were gone, he slouched back into his chair and put his head in his hands for a moment. He truly felt like he’d failed Henry, and more than anything he just wanted a chance to make things right with Oliver so the guilt he felt could just go away.

He looked up though when he heard the sound of shoes clicking on the floor and saw a bright blonde haired woman walking towards him. Though she looked a little too dressed up to be part of the police department, wearing an overcoat over what looked like a bright pink mini dress and high inched heels, she did seem familiar, but he didn’t know where from.

She didn’t look lost which he figured meant she specifically was looking for him.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

“You’re Barry Allen, right?” the woman asked pushing her glasses up on her face.

“Uhh yeah, that’s me,” he said unsure of what was going on. “Do I know you?”

A pensive look crossed her face for a moment before she extended a hand for him to shake which he did warily. “I’m Felicity Smoak. I’m Oliver’s friend.”

It felt weird seeing the person who Oliver spent most of his time working with. He had seen a few pictures around his rented apartment of her, Oliver, and someone else he was sure Oliver called Diggle. And Oliver would talk about her occasionally when they were out together. Part of him wanted to be mad at her for doing the DNA test that ruined everything between him and Oliver, but that wasn’t fair to her.

“Oh… you’re Oliver’s assistant. Did he send you here to talk to me?”

Felicity shook her head and smiled. “No. He actually doesn’t have a clue that I’m here. He actually doesn’t have a clue about anything because he’s been holed up in his apartment for the last three weeks.”

That was news to him. He hadn’t exactly expected Oliver to be running around happily, but he didn’t expect to hear that he had closed himself off from the world either.

“How is he?” Barry asked.

Felicity let out what seemed like a long held breath, and just from the shift in her expression he could sense the answer to his question wasn’t a good one.

“To be honest, he’s not doing well at all. I think the news that he has a son hit him harder than he thought it would.” Barry chewed nervously on his bottom lip, but tried to hide his concern by organizing bottles of chemicals on the shelf. He didn’t want to be responsible for Oliver shutting down again, but it was hard to help when he too had his own issues with Oliver. “I know I can’t even pretend to know the whole story between you and Oliver, but I know that he needs you, Barry.”

Barry laughed snidely at the thought that Oliver needed him. “He doesn’t need me. He threw me out of his apartment the last time we were together. I’m pretty sure I’m the last person he wants to see right now.”

“Barry, you and I both know how badly he needs you right now. I may not be an alpha or an omega like you or Oliver, but I know enough about them to know that they don’t do well when they’re apart from their mate for a long period of time.”

Barry turned around, surprised and shocked at what she just said. “Did you just say that Oliver and I are mates?”

Felicity sighed and shot him a disbelieving glance. “I know you’ve at least thought about it before, Barry. You and Oliver have a child together, and Oliver never forgot your scent even after all these years. That’s not something that regularly happens to people.”

Barry sighed. “Alright, so maybe Oliver and I are… or were mates at some point. Right now, it doesn’t seem like he wants anything to do with me, and I’m not sure I want anything to do with him.”

“You don’t really believe that do you?”

“What do you mean?” Barry asked.

Felicity inched closer to him, her eyes narrowed a little bit. “That Oliver doesn’t want anything to do with you? Because that’s so far from the truth, I don’t think you could actually get any farther.”

Barry huffed, and tried to continue arranging the chemicals, but he felt Felicity’s hand on his arm, and he stopped, turning back to face her.

“Oliver is hurting, and the only thing that can fix it is his mate and his son. And I know you’re hurting too, Barry. Just seeing you now, I can see how bothered you are about all of this. And trust me, I’m no expert in the dating world, but I think only you and Oliver talking can fix it,” she explained.

Barry closed his eyes, and the first thing he could see was Oliver’s face again, the hurt and pain scrawled all over his expression. He wanted the vision to fade and he wanted to remember the smile on his face when he said yes to their first date, or that smile he got when he saw Henry at his home. He just wanted him and Oliver to be happy, and for Henry to be happy with two parents.

“Fine. I’ll sit down and talk to him, but only if you can convince him to talk to me. He was the one who threw me out,” Barry conceded.

Felicity smiled. “That’s just Oliver’s stupid irrationality at work. Though I can’t blame him because that’s just how he’s learned to deal with his problems.” She took a deep breath to her rambling before turning a gentle expression towards him. “I promise you, Barry, he would never intentionally want to hurt you. He’s spent the last several years looking for you, and I don’t think he would want to ruin that now.”

Barry offered a weak smile, but he wasn’t sure this could be fixed. Felicity seemed genuine in her concern for Oliver and even for him, but how would Oliver react when he saw him again?

“Just tell me where and when, and I’ll be there. I’ll bring Henry too,” he sighed.

Felicity smiled brightly and it somewhat made him want to be happier too. “I promise I will make him talk to you. You have my word,” she promised.

And he hoped she was right. Because right now he felt like he was falling apart, and maybe he needed Oliver to help put him back together again.

 

**~OoO~**

 

Oliver heard the knocks on the door, but he didn’t have the energy to get up and answer it, so he ignored it and went back to hiding underneath his blanket. When he heard the lock on the door click, he knew exactly who it was on coming in, and he dreaded what was coming his way.

“Oliver, where are you?” Felicity called out. He could hear another set of footsteps as well and he figured it was Diggle coming with her since he was Oliver’s closest friend next to Felicity.  

He heard them approaching and he knew hiding wouldn’t make them go away, so he pushed the blanket off and sat up as they approached.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked, running to his side and pulling him into a tight hug.

“I told you, I needed some time alone,” he groaned.

“Yeah, but Oliver that doesn’t mean going completely AWOL for three weeks,” she argued, letting him go from her embrace. “People at Palmer Tech were starting to think you disappeared. You’ve missed so much work and so many meetings.”

Oliver hadn’t known how long he had been out of commission, so hearing Felicity say it had been three weeks was the first time he’d known how long it had been. Three weeks since he had learned that he had a son. Three weeks since he told Barry to leave his apartment without the promise that they could ever fix this. Three weeks since he’d felt the same misery again that he’d felt five years ago.

“I texted you both, and told you where I was,” he complained.

“C’mon man, you know you can’t just not show up for work for almost a month. You send us a couple of texts every once in a while and then you go quiet. After the bomb you just had dropped on you, we don’t know what could be happening to you,” Diggle said.

“How are you feeling?” Felicity asked, a sympathetic smile on her face.

“About as well as you can feel after finding out you've had a son for the last five years.”

Every time he thought about Barry or Henry, the anguish threatened to rise to the top again and drown him in pain and misery again. He barely managed to get up to eat or use the bathroom half the time, and his phone had died for about three days before he got the energy to charge it and reply to text messages asking where he was.

“Oliver, I know you are in indescribable pain right now, but you can’t let this whole thing ruin you. Right now, Ray and I are trying to appease the board who want answers as to why you haven’t been updating them on the building’s progress. If you miss anymore, the board is going to vote to remove you,” Felicity warned.

“Then let them!” he barked. He sounded a lot more tense and angry than he truly was, and he felt bad for startling Felicity, so he took a deep breath, but the feelings of hopelessness and exhaustion returned. “My whole world just turned upside down, Felicity. And I feel like I’m entitled to some time to process that by myself.” His voice came out more broken than he had anticipated, but he couldn’t regret it.

As angry and hurt as he was, he missed Barry and he missed Henry, his son. It was still hard for him to say those words, but he imagined maybe one day when he was with Henry again, it would be easier to say.

“Have you talked to Barry since then?” Diggle asked.

Oliver laughed derisively at the question. “I imagine he wouldn’t want to talk to me after I threw him out.”

“Well you can’t just sit here and sulk, man. Oliver, you’ve got a son now, and I don’t know about you, but I would be doing everything I could to spend as much time with him as possible,” Diggle commented.

“And how do you expect me to do that, Dig? Henry’s lived his entire life without me, and now I’ve pissed off his father too. Barry would never let me near Henry.”

“How can you even know that if you haven’t talked to him, Oliver?” Diggle countered.

“Maybe because I don’t want to talk to him. Did you all forget that this is his fault? I never got to be there for my own son because Barry thought it was best to keep him away from me.”

Felicity put her hand on Diggle’s back and she whispered something to him that Oliver couldn’t hear, but whatever it was, it had Diggle leaving the room, leaving him alone with Felicity.

“I went to see him, Oliver,” she admitted suddenly.

Oliver instantly felt his body stiffen and he sat up further in his bed, shooting her an evil glare.

“What in the world made you think that was a good idea, Felicity?” he growled.

“Because you’re hurting. And whether you want to acknowledge it or not, he’s hurting a lot too. I don’t even know him and I could see there was just this dark air hanging over him.”

Oliver growled quietly, but he remained silent. In his head he just thought about Barry being broken and hurt. He could still vividly remember the fear on Barry’s face and the tears that fell down his face. Even though he was angry that night, he wanted nothing more than to wipe the tears from Barry’s face, to pull him in and say it was all going to be alright. But for some reason he couldn’t let himself do that.

He let out a deep breath and closed his eyes for a brief moment. “I never wanted Barry to get hurt. I… love him. But, Felicity, he kept my child away from me, and he was okay with that.”

"Have you ever thought about how Barry felt about this?” she asked suddenly.

He stared incredulously at her. “Felicity, don’t you get that I’m the one who’s hurt here. I’m the one who didn’t get a chance to grow up with my son.”

“I get that, Oliver. You are entitled to all your anger and pain. But, I don’t think it’s fair to not think about what Barry’s gone through too.” Oliver wanted to say something, but a serious look on her face silenced him. “I don’t know Barry at all, but I can only imagine how scared he was. He was still in college when he got pregnant. And last time I checked, an unplanned pregnancy in college when you’re not married or mated is a pretty terrifying thing.”

“So are you saying I should just forgive him because he was scared? What about all those years afterwards?”

“You want answers that I can’t give you, and you will never get those answers unless you talk to him. I know you miss him and I know you miss Henry.”

Oliver grumbled, but relented. “I just want everything to go back to how it was before all this. I want Henry to know I’m his father, and I want Barry to know I still care about him. But how can this whole thing even be fixed?”

“Just talk to him, Oliver. Find a place on neutral ground where you can talk openly and he can tell you everything,” she suggested.

Oliver sighed. “I’ll do it. I just need to find the right time to do it.”

“Leave that to me. You just get cleaned up and ready for work,” she commanded.

“Felicity, I’m not going into work today,” Oliver argued.

“Oh yes you are. If you get fired from your job, that means I have to find a new job, and neither of us want that. So get up and get showered.” She pulled at his arm to get him out of the bed, and after a few moments of watching her struggled he relented and moved out of the bed.

He turned to Felicity and smiled for the first time in he didn’t know how long. “Thank you, Felicity.”

She smiled and hugged him tightly. “You totally owe me,” she teased. “Now go get showered. You smell.” She closed the door behind her, and Oliver laughed for a moment.

He stretched his body, feeling muscles and bones pop from lack of use for so long. This was the first time that he felt something other than unending depression. He finally felt a sense of hope. Maybe there  he and Barry could fix this. Maybe he could have a future with Henry. And maybe, just maybe, he could find some way to be happy with Barry too.

 

**~OoO~**

 

The afternoon sun was slowly starting to set over the city, casting a beautiful light over the park that Oliver had pulled up to.

The parking lot was mostly empty and Oliver could only see a handful of people scattered around the area, some down by the pond feeding the ducks, and some running around with a soccer ball in the fields.

Oliver looked around though and saw the playground in the distance where Felicity said Barry would meet him, and immediately honed in on the two scents coming from there. Barry’s still smelled sweet and inviting, but there was melancholy in there too. Henry still smelled like a faint mixture of both him and Barry. He took a deep breath and walked up the hill to where the playground was and he could see Barry sitting on the bench, watching Henry play with his toys in the sandbox nearby.

When he got nearby, Barry offered him a tiny smile while Henry’s face lit up completely.

“Mr. Oliver!” Henry cheered, running up to the man and wrapping arms around Oliver’s legs.

“Hey, Henry,” Oliver said, smiling down at the little boy. It felt so different because he knew why he loved the little boy so much. It was actually a relief to know that Henry was a part of him, and that if he wanted to he could call Henry his son.

He rubbed Henry’s hair, but his eyes were focused on Barry who was slowly sauntering over towards them, his hands buried in his jacket pocket, and a confused smile on his face like he wasn’t sure whether to be happy or not.

“Hey, Oliver,” Barry greeted.

Oliver wanted to ease the apprehension he could sense in Barry, so he offered a bright grin. He was truly happy to see Barry, and he hoped that Barry was happy to see him to.

“Hey, Barry. You look good,” he complimented.

Barry laughed bashfully, almost like the first time they had met. “That’s probably the first time I’ve heard that in a while.” Barry looked back at the bench. “Do you wanna sit and talk?”

Oliver nodded. “Yeah that’d be good.”

Barry crouched down until he was level with Henry and smiled before rubbing his son’s hair. “Henry, can you play with your toys while Mr. Oliver and I talk?”

“Can Mr. Oliver play with me too?” Henry asked.

Oliver wasn’t sure what Barry’s answer would be, but he wasn’t expecting Barry to smile and nod. “Sure. If Mr. Oliver wants to, he can play with you.”

Henry turned up to face Oliver, holding out one of his toys. “Do you wanna play superheroes with me?”

Oliver laughed and smiled at Henry. “I do, Henry. Once your daddy and I are done talking, we can play.”

Henry seemed satisfied by his answer, and he trudged off and sat back down in the sandbox and went back to playing with the toys. Oliver followed Barry back to the bench just a few feet away, and they both sat, each one putting a little distance between the other.

The alpha side of Oliver wanted nothing more than to nuzzle Barry close to him, but he was still a little angry, still hurt, and he needed answers before he could decide how he and Barry could move on from this. After listening to Felicity, he realized too that Barry was angry, scared, and worried too, and that he couldn’t make this all about himself.

“How have you been?” Barry started out, turning to him with a cautious look on his face.

“I’ve been better. It’s been hard without you and without Henry. I felt like there was an empty place in my heart. I hadn’t felt like that since the morning after you left five years ago. I’m just glad Felicity convinced me to come talk to you.” Barry sighed and looked down for a bit, and Oliver could see that remembering that was causing him pain too. “How are you doing, Barry?”

“I’m—not much better, to be honest. I think I’m probably doing even worse than you are. Most days I feel like a failure and a horrible parent for keeping you away from Henry for all these years.”

Hearing that sent a wave of frustration down Oliver’s spine. He might be angry at Barry, but he didn’t want Barry to somehow think he’d failed as a parent.

“Barry, you haven’t failed as a parent. I mean, look at Henry. He’s smart, he’s funny, and he’s happy. You’re the reason for all of those things.” Oliver took a deep breath and let it out. “Barry… I’m sorry for running the test on Henry behind your back. I—I should’ve been honest with you. Instead I took advantage of your trust.”

Barry laughed, but it seemed more self-deprecating than anything else, and Oliver felt bad for him. “Thanks, Oliver. I don’t know if you were in the wrong though. I never knew when I was going to tell you the truth about Henry, but when I think about how Henry looked at you whenever you were around, I… I just feel like a screwed up for keeping you away from him.”

Barry took a deep breath and finally looked up from the ground. “He asked about you every day after we fought. I didn’t know what to tell him, so I just lied and said that you were too busy to hang out.”

Oliver didn’t know what to say to that, but he just wanted to comfort Barry and tell him that he wasn’t a bad parent.

“Why did you feel like you couldn’t tell me about Henry?” he finally asked.

Barry bit his bottom lip and looked nervous, and Oliver let his alpha instincts take over and he moved closer to Barry. Barry seemed receptive to the movement and slid closer to Oliver too.

“To tell you the truth, Oliver, I was embarrassed.” The revelation made Oliver’s eyes go wide for a moment, but Barry seemed oddly relieved by the admission. “I was embarrassed that I was one of those people who got knocked up because they weren’t paying attention. And then to have the father of my child be someone like you, it made things worse.”

“What do you mean, Barry?” he asked.

“When I was eleven, I lost my entire family. My father went to prison because the police thought he murdered my mother. I testified at his trial that it was someone else, and I remember there being a ton of cameras and paparazzi trying to ask me questions, saying my father was a murderer. But I felt like no one cared that I lost the two most important people in my life. I had no one until Joe adopted me. Then I just had him and Iris. But then I got scared about losing them too.”

A light clicked in Oliver’s mind and he realized what had scared Barry so much. “You didn’t want Henry around me because you thought I was a danger to him.”

“If people had found out I was pregnant with your son, I would’ve been sucked into your world. Henry would’ve been sucked into your world. I didn’t want him growing up knowing his father drove drunk, punched paparazzi, and did a bunch of other things that would’ve endangered his life. Besides Joe and Iris, Henry was the only family I had left. I couldn’t take the risk of anything happening to him. So, I left Starling City.”

“I looked for you, you know. Once I finally had the energy to leave my apartment again, I went to back to that bar every night for almost a week hoping to find you. I even asked the staff if they remembered you, but nothing. I even tried to look around Starling City University, but after I couldn't find you there I just gave up,” Oliver explained.

Barry nodded as if he understood. “I went back to Central City as soon as the doctor told me I was pregnant. I met with the school advisors and I had to work out an agreement to do my work from Central City so I could graduate. I couldn’t stand the thought of being pregnant and alone in Starling.”

The two of them sat in silence for several minutes, and he could sense Barry was upset and tired, and so without much more thought he wrapped his arms around Barry, and to his surprise Barry leaned onto him.

“Everything worked out fine,” Barry said, breaking through the absence of noise besides Henry playing with his toys. Oliver turned to look at down at him, and Barry looked up and smiled. “The pregnancy that is. He was fine when I had him. The first thing the doctor said about him was how blue and beautiful his eyes were, and I knew it was from you.”

Oliver laughed a little at that and couldn’t help but beam at that.

“He really is a good mixture of us, isn’t he?” Oliver said.

Barry breathed in approval and Oliver felt Barry nuzzle closer to him. “I saw the news about your father passing away when I was in the hospital. I remember you had cried when they interviewed you and everything. Even though you weren’t there when he was born… I wanted to sort of honor him because I saw on the news how important he was to you. So when he was born, I named him after your dad and mine. His full name is Henry Robert Allen.” 

Oliver felt his heart nearly skip a beat when he heard Henry’s full name. Barry felt him go stiff and pulled back to look at him, but Oliver almost wanted to reach out and hold him still.

“Barry… that’s—that’s probably the greatest news I’ve ever heard. Thank you,” Oliver whispered, feeling a pull in his voice that threatened to give away just how happy he was.

“Oliver—I can’t accept that. Not after I kept you and Henry apart for so long.” Barry took a deep breath and let it out. “When your father died, I realized that he never even had a chance to see his grandson. I realize I shouldn’t have denied you the right to at least know Henry. Maybe your father could’ve seen him once before he died.”

Oliver pulled Barry in tighter, and Barry seemed to welcome the feeling of being nestled next to Oliver. Oliver finally had the feeling of being whole return to him. It all seemed to surreal, having Barry, _his omega_ , next to him, his head resting on his shoulders, and in front of them, their son playing with his toys without a care in the world.

“Barry… I wish I would’ve known Henry before, but I can’t be mad at you for doing what you thought was best for him. I just want to be here for him now. And I want to be here for you.”

“Wait, Oliver. You’re not saying that you want to stay here, are you?” Barry asked.

“I guess, I should’ve told you that I’m taking over the new Queen Consolidated building here. I was going to commute back and forth between here and Starling, but with you and Henry here. I wanted to see if you and I wanted to give this a shot? Parenting together as mates,” Oliver asked.

Barry smiled and it seemed like the words wouldn’t come out of his mouth which was why Oliver wasn’t surprised when Barry leaned in and kissed him, this time a kiss not ruled by his pheromone induced lust, but one truly chaste kiss of two mates in love.

Barry broke this kiss, lips red and a goofy smile drawn across his face. “When Felicity said that you and I were mates, I thought she was insane. But I always knew we were something. Now… now I want you to stay here with me forever. I want to see if we can be a family. I guess she was right. You and I really are still mates” Barry said.

Oliver smiled wide again with a small laugh. “If I’ve learned one thing in the last few years, it’s that Felicity is begrudgingly right about a lot of things.” And with no warning, he leaned in and kissed Barry again, never wanting to let go of him.

“Eww, daddy is gonna get cooties,” Oliver heard Henry yell from the sandbox. Oliver pulled them apart and Barry couldn’t help but laugh at the little boy being so disgusted by their kiss. Barry turned to Oliver with a bemused expression, but there was a twinkle in his eye that made him slightly uneasy.

“Henry, come here,” Barry called out.

Henry obliged his father’s request and walked over before Barry lifted him off the ground and sat him down on his lap.

Henry looked back and forth between the both of them with a giddy smile on his face, and Oliver couldn’t help but put his hand on the boy’s back and rub it, allowing himself to feel like the alpha father that he was.

“Remember when you told me that you wanted another mommy or daddy like the other kids in your class had?” Barry asked the little boy.

Henry looked around before nodding at Barry with a smile on his face. “Do I get a new mommy or daddy?”

Barry smiled and laughed before looking at Oliver. “You’re in luck buddy. Oliver is also your daddy, and he always will be.”

Henry’s face lit up, but Oliver was too stunned to show his joy. He never expected them to reveal that Oliver was his father now, but seeing how excited happy that made Henry proved that it was the best thing in the world.

“Mr. Oliver is my daddy now?” Henry asked, looking directly into Oliver’s bright blue eyes.

“That’s right. He’s your daddy just like me.”

Barry picked Henry up and passed him over to Oliver who took his graciously from Barry’s arms, a stunned smile still drawn across his face.

“Are you really my daddy now, Mr. Oliver?” Henry asked, leaning in close to him again.

Oliver laughed, and he felt a tear slowly fall down his cheek. “Yeah, Henry. I really am your daddy. We can play with your toys all the time now if you want.”

Henry smiled and let his head fall against Oliver’s chest and Oliver wrapped an arm around the boy to hold him there, his alpha feeling proud, calm, and at ease with the world around it.

“Can I call you daddy Oliver?” Henry asked.

“I think I’d like that, Henry,” Oliver beamed.

Oliver nodded and looked over to see Barry smiling, and he used his free arm to pull Barry so that for the first time ever, they were a family. Two mates and their son all together at least. Barry let his head rest on Oliver’s shoulder which watching Henry who seemed content to stay nuzzled into Oliver’s chest.

It may have taken five years and a hell of a lot of heartbreak, but he was finally here. He finally had everything he wanted in life. A mate and a son.

He finally got to taste the happiness he’d had so longed for, and it felt so good.

 

**~OoO~**

 

**_6 Months Later_ **

Barry had never felt so sore and worn out like this in a long time, and he certainly didn’t think sex with Oliver would cause it. But that was his fault for letting Oliver knot him when he wasn’t in heat which he quickly learned was some of the greatest sex ever, but also the worst pain in the morning.

Oliver groaned slightly as he felt Barry stirring, and Barry couldn’t help the breathy laugh at his mate’s frustration.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” he greeted, earning him another groan from the alpha next to him.

“Why do you feel like waking up so early on my day off?” Oliver grumbled, eyes still shut tight to try and block out the sunlight filtering in from his apartment window.

“Maybe because we have to take Henry over to Joe’s before we have to be at his preschool graduation. You know, that thing that we all swore we’d go to,” Barry teased.

Oliver sighed and slowly let his eyes flutter open begrudgingly. “Why do pre-schools do this again? The only graduation that even matters is high school, and he is a very long ways away from that.”

“Don’t ask me. I didn’t make the rules,” Barry argued, snickering at the man.

They both heard shuffling in the apartment, and Barry knew that meant that Henry was awake and running around. It wasn’t long before the little boy ran into their bedroom with a smile on his face.

“Morning!” he yelled enthusiastically. Henry crawled on the bed and crawled onto Oliver’s lap while Barry watched affectionately.

“Hey, buddy. Are you ready for your graduation today?” Oliver asked as he bounced the four year old on his lap a little.

Henry nodded and giggled at being bounced. “Daddy said I get a surprise for graduating,” Henry said.

Oliver raised an eyebrow and turned to Barry who shrugged but was smiling mischievously. “He did? And what is the surprise that we’re getting Henry?” he asked pointedly at Barry.

“It’s something Henry will get after graduation,” Barry said. “Henry, can you go get ready for your bath? I’ll be in there in just a bit.”

“But I don’t wanna take a bath,” Henry whined.

“But you want pancakes at Grandpa Joe’s right?” Barry countered.

Henry’s face lit up, and Barry was glad Henry was still susceptible to being bribed with pancakes even though they hadn’t lived with Joe in a few months. “Can I get ones with chocolate in them?”

Barry laughed and nodded. “Only if you get ready for your bath now.”

Henry crawled from Oliver’s lap and got off the bed and ran into the bathroom, and Oliver was about to follow, but Barry quickly grabbed onto his arm, halting him.

“Don’t you want to know what the surprises are?”

“Wait, surprises? I thought there was only one surprise?” Oliver inquired, giving Barry a puzzled glance.

Barry laughed and held up two fingers. “There’s two, actually.”

“Okay what are they?”

“Well one is that new Star Wars toy set he’s been dying to get. Joe, Eddie, and I all pitched in to buy it for him.”

“Not that toy set that was like seventy-five dollars? I thought we said he didn’t need any more toys?” Oliver grumbled.

“That’s your fault for buying him a toy almost every time we went to the store, or did you forget that all of a sudden?”

Oliver laughed and leaned in and kissed Barry lightly on the lips. “Forgive me for wanting to spoil our only son.” Barry felt his cheeks get warm and he knew he was probably grinning a little too wide after Oliver’s last comment. When Oliver narrowed his eyes suspiciously at him, he figured Oliver was starting to catch on. “Barry, what’s going on?”

“About the other surprise—” Barry stopped and grabbed Oliver’s hand and slowly he moved it until it sat right on Barry’s stomach, and Oliver’s eyes went wide and his expression went blank. He heard Oliver gasp completely and utterly stunned, but he couldn’t say anything. Instead he just let his blue eyes fall right on his.

“Barry—are you—”

Barry smiled and nodded his head. “It turns out I was in heat two weeks ago when we had sex. I found out the other day, and I wanted to surprise you today. But umm—you’re gonna be a dad, again.”

Oliver smiled and laughed and Barry could see his alphas eyes were glossy with a tear forming in the corner.

“I’m gonna be a dad, again?” Oliver muttered.

Barry swallowed and nodded. “Yeah. And this time, you’ll be here for all of it, all the morning sickness, the mood swings, the birth. All of it,” he joked.

Oliver pulled Barry into a hug and Barry didn’t care that it felt like Oliver was squeezing him or that his stubble was scratching his shoulder. He and his mate were going to have another child together, and this time he wouldn’t go it alone. He’d have Oliver with him every step of the way.

“Barry—this is… the greatest news I’ve heard in forever. I love you,” Oliver whispered, pressing a kiss into his hair.

“I love you too, Oliver.”

It was Henry though who finally broke them apart, looking impatient as he stood in the doorway. “Daddy, we’re gonna miss the pancakes!” he complained as he stood in the doorway again.

Barry and Oliver both just smiled and, Barry looked between his son, Oliver, and down at his stomach where Oliver’s hand still rested, and where their newborn baby was starting to grow.

He finally was happy, and he didn’t think anything could take this away.


End file.
